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

In some cases a very furred tongue, sallow skin, and costive bowels indicate more active purgatives, which may be exhibited during the febrile stage.

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

In chronic diseases of the digestive organs, very frequently, there is an inactive, or costive condition of the alimentary canal.

From A Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene (Revised Edition) by Cutter, Calvin