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Definition of formative : 1. A word formed in accordance with some rule or usage, as from a root.
2. Capable of growth and development; germinal; as, living or formative matter.
3. Giving form; having the power of giving form; plastic; as, the formative arts.
4. Serving to form; derivative; not radical; as, a termination merely formative.
5. That which serves merely to give form, and is no part of the radical, as the prefix or the termination of a word.

Synonyms:

constructive, juvenile, fictile, immature, inchoative, plastic, pliable, pliant, impressionable, shaping, young, moldable

foremost, infant, inaugural, maiden, fetal, commencing, initial, early, dawned, preparatory, Genesis, first, beginning, nascent, primal, primeval, germinal, introductory, aboriginal, hatching, alpha, newborn, new, original, precursory, incipient, preliminary, embryonic, sprouting, primordial, budding, emerging, infantile, starting, baby

fundamental, unadulterated, chaste, honorable, unsullied, basal, white, decent, innocent, irreducible, undiluted, guiltless, angelic, uncluttered, purebred, elemental, sinless, blameless, basic, plain, clear, stainless, bare, simon-pure, unalloyed, pure, foundational, undefiled, clean, simple, unadorned, indivisible, austere, immaculate, primary, unblemished, elementary, prime, spotless, virtuous, essential, untarnished, faultless, atomic, stark, monolithic, untainted

executive, causal, motivational, generative, influential, pivotal, causative, effective, responsible

Usage examples:

• The plan of these stories is to give a personal portrait of the man, using the background of his early life- to trace his career up from boyhood through the formative years. - "Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers", J. Walker McSpadden.
• By his magnificent foundation of scholarships at Oxford, he showed that he considered his old university a formative influence of the greatest importance in world history. - "The Charm of Oxford", J. Wells.
• He had already been seized by the impulse to set forth the system of philosophy that took shape in him, as he says, by some formative process of which he could give no conscious account. - "Schopenhauer", Thomas Whittaker.