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

More hebetude; tongue more coated with brownish fur, red at tip; bowels continue costive; opened by an enema. 31st.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

There is usually marked thirst, the bowels are costive, and dung is passed with pain and effort.

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry