constructive

Etymology

From Middle French constructif. Morphologically construct + -ive.

adj

1. Relating to or causing construction.
2. Carefully considered and meant to be helpful.
3. (law) Imputed by law; created to give legal effect to something for equitable reasons, as with constructive notice or a constructive trust.
4. Not direct or expressed, but inferred.
   A President's power begins slipping away the moment it is known that he is going to leave: I had seen that in 1952, in 1960, in 1968. On the eve of my resignation I knew that my role was already a symbolic one, and that Gerald Ford's was now the constructive one. My telephone calls and meetings and decisions were now parts of a prescribed ritual aimed at making peace with the past; his calls, his meetings, and his decisions were already the ones that would shape America's future. 1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1973-1974”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1077