contrastive

[ kuhn-tras-tiv ]

adjective

1. tending to contrast; contrasting. contrastive colors.
2. studying or exhibiting the congruences and differences between two languages or dialects without reference to their origins:

   contrastive linguistics.

Other Words From

• con·trastive·ly adverb
• uncon·trastive adjective
• uncon·trastive·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of contrastive¹

First recorded in 1810–20; contrast + -ive

Example Sentences

There is also a phoneme of stress which has a very low contrastive function.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• disparate
• dissimilar
• distinct
• divergent
• unalike
• unlike
• unsimilar