costive
Americanadjective
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suffering from constipation; constipated.
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slow in action or in expressing ideas, opinions, etc.
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Obsolete. stingy; tight-fisted.
adjective
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having constipation; constipated
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sluggish
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niggardly
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of costive
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from unrecorded Anglo-French costif, for Middle French costivé, past participle of costiver “to constipate,” from Latin constīpāre ( see constipate)
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.
Movies coiled up in other movies have a habit of becoming either costive or cute, but somehow Falardeau avoids the traps.
From The New Yorker ● May 5, 2017
His stories are carried along, too, by an exceptionally easygoing and seductive narrative voice, what the costive Henry James described as his acolyte’s enviable “flow.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 2, 2016
Yet at the same time there was something costive about Johns, in sharp contrast to the effusive generosity of Robert Rauschenberg's vision.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is probable that Mr. Gray, a very costive writer, could hardly have made a decent number of verses within the limited time.
From Deformities of Samuel Johnson, Selected from his Works by Anonymous
Next Day, the 21st, her Blood appeared very sizy, and she complained of having been costive for some Days.
From An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany by Donald Monro
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
