01 a. tending to contract; having the power or property of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile t…
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1.
tending to contract; having the power or property of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues.“The heart's contractile force.” — H. Brooke.“Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance.” — Hixley.
Phrases & compounds
Contractile vacuole —
a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or more.