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contractive

American  
[kuhn-trak-tiv] / kənˈtræk tɪv /

adjective

  1. serving or tending to contract.

  2. capable of contracting.


Other Word Forms

  • contractively adverb
  • contractiveness noun

Etymology

Origin of contractive

First recorded in 1615–25; contract + -ive

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The current economic context suggests the board should maintain a contractive stance on monetary policy to bring inflation towards the target, the report added.

From Reuters • Aug. 3, 2023

The contractive view, which still largely persists even to-day, speedily took over much of the Canon law doctrines of marriage, becoming in practice a kind of reformed and secularized Canon law.

From Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 Sex in Relation to Society by Ellis, Havelock

There must always be contractive elements, implicit or explicit, in a marriage; that was well recognized even by the Canonists.

From Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 Sex in Relation to Society by Ellis, Havelock

The operator must not be impatient, for the stream is perfectly passive; since, in consequence of the distension, the bladder has lost its contractive power.

From The Dog by Dinks

And the forms of the cumuli themselves tell us in manifold metamorphoses of a state of equilibrium between expansive and contractive tendencies within the atmosphere.

From Man or Matter by Lehrs, Ernst