nutritively

Nutritively is an adverb that refers to something done in a manner related to nutrition or nourishment. It describes actions, processes, or properties with regard to their nutritional impact, such as how food is prepared, consumed, or assessed for its ability to sustain health.

The word is derived from the adjective nutritive, which in turn comes from the Latin nutrire meaning to feed or nourish. The adverbial suffix -ly yields nutritively, but in modern usage the more common form is nutritionally. Because nutritively is less common, it often appears in older texts, literary contexts, or as a stylistic choice rather than in scientific writing.

In contemporary nutrition and health writing, nutritionally is the preferred adverb to indicate a relation to nutrition. Nutritively may be encountered in historical dictionaries or in discussions about language usage, where it is noted as rarer and somewhat archaic. When clarity and precision are important, most writers would replace it with nutritionally or rephrase the sentence to emphasize nutritional content, such as describing a food as nutritionally balanced or rich.

See also Nutritive, nutritionally, nutrition.