contrastive

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/kənˈtrɑːstɪv/US:USA pronunciation: respellingUSA pronunciation: respelling(kən tras′tiv)


WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
con•tras•tive  (kən tras′tiv),USA pronunciation adj. 
  1. tending to contrast;
    contrasting. contrastive colors.
  2. Linguisticsstudying or exhibiting the congruences and differences between two languages or dialects without reference to their origins:contrastive linguistics.
  • contrast + -ive 1810–20
con•tras′tive•ly, adv. 

'contrastive' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
contrastive stress - eme - hand - man - noncontrastive - retronym - scherzo - streak - toneme - trio - woman

Forum discussions with the word(s) "contrastive" in the title:


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