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View synonyms for costive

costive

[ kos-tiv, kaw-stiv ]

adjective

  1. suffering from constipation; constipated.
  2. slow in action or in expressing ideas, opinions, etc.
  3. Obsolete. stingy; tight-fisted.


costive

/ ˈkɒstɪv /

adjective

  1. having constipation; constipated
  2. sluggish
  3. niggardly
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈcostiveness, noun
  • ˈcostively, adverb
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Other Words From

  • costive·ly adverb
  • costive·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of costive1

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 ( constipate )
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Word History and Origins

Origin of costive1

C14: from Old French costivé, from Latin constipātus; see constipate
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Example Sentences

See them disappear into a k-hole while actually eating Special K to ease their costive and ageing bowels!

The second fragment or thesis treats of “disorders of the bowels,” which suggests already that the aphorist is a costive sort, disgorging small verities with considerable effort.

Silver service, indeed – the wings of flustered gulls were caught by the carvery’s shiny and retinal cover, their costive cries – Sheeeeit!

Movies coiled up in other movies have a habit of becoming either costive or cute, but somehow Falardeau avoids the traps.

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.”

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