Demonstrative means openly showing your feelings, especially affection or emotion. A demonstrative person hugs friends enthusiastically, tells people they care about them, and doesn't hide how they feel. Some families are very demonstrative, with lots of physical affection and verbal expressions of love. Other families feel just as much love but express it more quietly, through actions rather than words or hugs.

When you're demonstrative, you're showing your emotions where others can see them. A demonstrative celebration might include cheering, jumping, and high-fives. A demonstrative disagreement might involve raised voices and animated gestures.

Neither being demonstrative nor being reserved is better: they're just different styles of expression. What matters is understanding your own style and respecting that others might express themselves differently. Your quiet friend who rarely hugs might care about you just as much as your demonstrative friend who greets you with excited squeals.

In grammar, demonstrative can also be a noun. It refers to a word that points to a specific thing, like “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those.” When you say “this book is mine,” you're using a demonstrative to indicate exactly which book you mean.