explorativeadj.

1578 J. Banister Hist. Man i. f. 9 Realdus Collumbus, a famous man to be remembred, who, in these matters Anathomicall by his exploratiue indagation, seemeth to haue sifted a mite, and clouen a heare.

a1626 A. Lake Serm. (1629) iv. 112 Looke what difference there is between etheriall and elementall heat..the same is there betweene the exploratiue, and seductiue temptation, when it lighteth vpon the wits and wils of men.

1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xxviii. 367 Those Chapters that particularly are explorative of the Lawes and Modes of that Country where our Chancellour was then an Exile.

1741 W. Warburton Divine Legation Moses II. App. 63 Albinus..divides Plato's Dialogues into Classes..explorative, obstetric and subversive.

1852 Fraser's Mag. 45 664 Should the visitor be of a very inquisitive turn, he may satisfy his explorative disposition.

1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 8 Aug. 4/2 Few men of his age have done so much explorative tramping.

1922 G. Hartman Child & his School ii. 74 The great task of the school is to preserve and perfect the eager explorative nature of childhood.

1989 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Nov. 1237/1 This is not just an up-to-date handbook, but a deeply original and explorative study.

2004 C. Marcus in W. Kiess et al. Obesity in Childhood & Adolescence 215 The studies so far have been explorative and experimental.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. ii. i. 97 Behoves us, not to enter exploratively its dim embroiled deeps.

1933 Austral. Q. Dec. 76 The task of working the outback, be it commercially, exploratively, or for any other reason, is one of extreme difficulty and danger.

2003 C. Curzon Body of Woman vi. 57 They made love tenderly and exploratively.

1841 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 50 155 To prevent your snout, in a fit of explorativeness, from being snubbed by the impudent claws of a..rock.

1920 J. F. A. Pyre Wisconsin viii. 196 There had been too little speculative daring in that teaching, and too indolent an explorativeness of scholarship to permanently interest him.

2000 M. Alexander Hist. Eng. Lit. ii. v. 140 The essays [of Bacon] interweave experience and authorities; their close sententiousness has the scepticism of Montaigne but without his engaging explorativeness.