participatory

adjective par·tic·i·pa·to·ry \ pär-ˈti-sə-pə-ˌtȯr-ē , pər- \

|Updated on: 3 Aug 2018

Definition of participatory

: characterized by or involving participation; especially : providing the opportunity for individual participation

participatory democracy

participatory management

See participatory defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of participatory from the Web

Circles are sized proportionally to the most recent amount allocated to participatory budgeting.

— michaelle bond, Philly.com, "WiFi? Street repairs? Parks? Cities let residents choose how to spend their tax dollars," 14 May 2018
Commercial markets are integral to Turbojugend’s participatory community.

— nancy baym, WIRED, "Book Excerpt: How Music Fans Built the Internet," 10 July 2018
Sunday’s celebration was organized by arts group Artichoke, which specializes in large-scale, participatory events.

— Washington Post, "100 years of voting: British marches celebrate suffragettes," 10 June 2018
The documents that encoded the participatory democracy of which Americans tend to be so proud expressly barred the electoral, civic, and economic participation of the nonwhite and the non-male.

— rebecca traister, The Cut, "Summer of Rage," 29 June 2018
The social media companies that have profited most have done so by selling back to us the promises of the web and participatory culture.

— tarleton gillespie, WIRED, "How Social Networks Set the Limits of What We Can Say Online," 26 June 2018
At Nova Pioneer, classes are smaller—32 pupils, on average—and more participatory.

— The Economist, "Elite private schools are booming in Kenya," 21 June 2018
Multicandidate races suggest robust engagement in participatory democracy and offer voters a wide range of choices.

— New York Times, "What Is That Crowd? It’s the Field of Candidates. Now Pick One.," 1 June 2018
Leaving matters of law in the hands of the citizenry is an important element in our participatory democracy.

— edward d. mccarthy, BostonGlobe.com, "The case of the vanishing trial lawyer, and why it matters to all of us," 8 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'participatory.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.