contractive

American  

[kuhn-trak-tiv] / kənˈtræk tɪv /

adjective

1. serving or tending to contract.

2. capable of contracting.

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Other Word Forms

• contractively adverb
• contractiveness noun

Etymology

Origin of contractive

First recorded in 1615–25; contract + -ive

Example Sentences

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 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

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 Ellis, Havelock