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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


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.

See Examples For:

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

Even if marriage is placed on the most prosaic contractive basis it is a mistake, and indeed an impossibility, to pre-ordain the length of its duration.

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

In like manner, sulphur represents the active and passive principle of fire: the contractive force, or negative electricity—oxygen—produces flame; and the dilative force, or positive electricity—hydrogen—produces warmth.

From Literary Remains, Volume 2 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

It was somewhat more adapted to modern needs, but it retained much of the rigidity of the Catholic marriage without its sacramental character, and it never made any attempt to become more than nominally contractive.

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

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 Havelock Ellis

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