ilmentävä

Ilmentävä is a Finnish adjective meaning embodying, representing, or manifesting a quality or idea. It is derived from the verb ilmentää, “to embody, to manifest, to personify,” with the typical adjective-forming suffix -vä. The form ilmentävä is used to describe something that embodies or makes concrete a concept, often in literary, philosophical, or critical contexts. It can modify a noun (for example, ilmentävä kuva “an illustrative/embodying figure”) or function predicatively (Tämä esimerkki on ilmentävä).

In practice, the nuance of ilmentävä is that the described thing does more than relate to the concept; it actively embodies it or serves as a tangible manifestation of it. The term is therefore common in academic writing, art criticism, and discussions of symbolism, where abstract ideas are discussed through concrete representations.

The use of ilmentävä is part of a broader family of related forms: ilmentäminen (the act of embodying, manifestation), ilmentää (to embody), and ilmentävä (the adjective here). The word is relatively specialized and is more frequently found in written Finnish than in everyday speech. Its precise interpretation depends on context and the strength of the embodiment being described.