costive

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

From The New Yorker • May 5, 2017

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.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 2, 2016

Yet at the same time there was something costive about Johns, in sharp contrast to the effusive generosity of Robert Rauschenberg's vision.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her Pulse was quick and strong, and she was inclined to be costive.

From An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany by Monro, Donald

It is probable that Mr. Gray, a very costive writer, could hardly have made a decent number of verses within the limited time.

From Deformities of Samuel Johnson, Selected from his Works by Anonymous