Adjective : a sportive puppy. ,a sportive show of affection.    From Dictionary.com. 

One other curious piece of sportiveness in his dealings with the.    From Wordnik.com.  [Voltaire] Reference

"When shall the wedding be?" said Mrs. Jaynes, with a smile of affected sportiveness.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 03, January, 1858] Reference

It has been often said, that one can always measure the refinement of any person by watching his language and deportment in his moments of sportiveness.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Elements of Character] Reference

It smiled and wept, but knew not why; but succeeding days added strength and vigor to his frame, and he came forth in all the sportiveness and beauty of infant loveliness.    From Wordnik.com.  [Withered Leaves from Memory's Garland] Reference

As a Magistrate, his wise, calm, humane administration of the law proved that the fulfilment of the gravest duties is not incompatible with the sportiveness of literary genius.    From Wordnik.com.  [The History of "Punch"] Reference

I was struck with his appearance, his quickness of conception, and that mixture of sportiveness and depth, which I had found characteristic of the higher orders of French society.    From Wordnik.com.  [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843] Reference

They will pass in an instant from jollity to woe, and, when just snatched from the jaws of death, will give the rein to jests and sportiveness as if life were nothing but a perpetual holiday.    From Wordnik.com.  [Humphrey Bold A Story of the Times of Benbow] Reference

As a rule, the Brother's sportiveness only disquieted him.    From Wordnik.com.  [La faute de l'Abbe Mouret] Reference

Angela took her sister's reckless speech for mere sportiveness.    From Wordnik.com.  [London Pride Or When the World Was Younger] Reference

It began in sportiveness, but before long became deeply serious and interesting.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, June 1844 Volume 23, Number 6] Reference

She took peculiar delight in my sportiveness and certain sweetness in my external deportment.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Autobiography of Madame Guyon] Reference

He who never relaxes into sportiveness is a wearisome companion, but beware of him who jests at everything!.    From Wordnik.com.  [Sir Thomas More, or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society] Reference

With all her gaiety and sportiveness, she had a heart filled with all the tenderest sensibilities of a woman.    From Wordnik.com.  [Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 17] Reference

Her lovely face beams forth from the dust-covered and dingy canvas with beauty, sportiveness, and pensive grace.    From Wordnik.com.  [Raphael Pages of the Book of Life at Twenty] Reference

His Letters are written in an easy, agreeable style, with constant sportiveness and endless felicity of expression.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tacitus and Bracciolini The Annals Forged in the XVth Century] Reference

In play-time they desired no better companion, for she was a child herself in gaiety of heart and lissom sportiveness.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Whirlpool] Reference

Wild as a deer, she dared him to run a race with her, and danced along the paths by his side full of mirth and sportiveness.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Poor Gentleman] Reference

Having himself the ulterior office of judge, he must not hope to rival nature's children in their sportiveness and intuition.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Life of Reason] Reference

But retirement softened him, and the real nature of Lord Cromer, with its elements of geniality and sportiveness, came into full play.    From Wordnik.com.  [Some Diversions of a Man of Letters] Reference

Caliban will persist in the belief that the visible system was created in Setebos's moment of being ill at ease and in cruel sportiveness.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Hero and Some Other Folks] Reference

That agreeable humor and sportiveness, which seemed native to him, though by reason of his thousand cares not often seen, is now wholly gone.    From Wordnik.com.  [Aurelian or, Rome in the Third Century] Reference

It seems to have been an expression of pure sportiveness and mirth-making, and was therefore performed without sacrifice or religious ceremony.    From Wordnik.com.  [Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula] Reference

This is a valuable bit of autobiography; it sets forth clearly Chopin's proneness to melancholy, which, however, easily gave way to his sportiveness.    From Wordnik.com.  [Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician]

Potomac, would find Mr. Adams buffeting its waves with all the sportiveness and dexterity of boyhood, while a single attendant watched upon the shore.    From Wordnik.com.  [Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams Sixth President of the Unied States] Reference

I see everywhere the extraordinary breadth, the sportiveness of life; in the animal kingdom, amongst quadrupeds, reptiles, insects, birds, and fishes.    From Wordnik.com.  [My Life in Christ, or Moments of Spiritual Serenity and Contemplation, of Reverent Feeling, of Earnest Self-Amendment, and of Peace in God] Reference

They accepted him as a decided damper, for his attempts at sportiveness were so forced that they might as well have essayed their games in a cathedral.    From Wordnik.com.  [Heart of the West [Annotated]] Reference

Her firm and healthy pulse beats in sympathy with the sportiveness in which the proper decorum of her station may not permit her to bear an active part.    From Wordnik.com.  [Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. With An Historical Sketch Of The Origin And Growth Of The Drama In England] Reference

Prudence sustained her part in the sportiveness of the day, and was alternately sentimental and mettlesome, thoughtless or grave, as the occasion served.    From Wordnik.com.  [Swallow Barn, or A Sojourn in the Old Dominion. In Two Volumes. Vol. I.] Reference

It may be the head of your enemy, your friend, or a stranger, according as competition, jealousy, or simple sportiveness has been your incentive to labor.    From Wordnik.com.  [Options] Reference

It seemed as if Nature, in mere sportiveness, had thought to excel the noblest works of art, and rear up a mimic city as the grand metropolis of her empire.    From Wordnik.com.  [ROCKY MOUNTAIN LIFE] Reference