Origin: Latin suffix -ive
Informative has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
tending to increase knowledge or dissipate ignorance
"an enlightening glimpse of government in action"
"an illuminating lecture"
serving to instruct or enlighten or inform
"The museum guide provided an informative tour that taught us about ancient Egyptian history."
providing or conveying information
"The guidebook was informative, offering detailed maps and historical facts about every landmark we visited."
Providing information; especially, providing useful or interesting information.
"The museum guide's informative tour revealed fascinating details about ancient pottery techniques that most visitors had never noticed before."
In plain English: Informative means giving you useful facts that help you learn something new.
"The guidebook was extremely informative and helped us plan our trip perfectly."
Usage: Use informative to describe something that successfully conveys new and valuable details rather than just raw data. This adjective is often confused with informational when speakers need a word emphasizing the utility of the content over its mere existence as facts.
From inform + -ative.