Wordnet 3.0
ADJECTIVE (1)
1.
capable of contracting or being contracted;
- Example: "the contractile wings of an insect"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Contractile \Con*tract"ile\, a. [Cf. F. contractile.]
tending to contract; having the power or property of
contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller
dimensions; as, the contractile tissues.
[1913 Webster]
The heart's contractile force. --H. Brooke.
[1913 Webster]
Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile
substance. --Hixley.
[1913 Webster]
Contractile vacuole (Zool.), a pulsating cavity in the
interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in
function. There may be one, two, or more.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
contractile
adj 1: capable of contracting or being contracted; "the
contractile wings of an insect"