Standard Lemma guide

costive

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈkɒstɪv/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈkɑstɪv/

1

adj

Meaning 1

Constipated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Miserly, parsimonious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

Examples

  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:costive.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

retarding evacuation of feces; binding; constipating

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: laxative

History

Etymology

From Middle French costivé, past participle of costiver (“to constipate”), ultimately from Latin cōnstīpātus (“constipated”). Doublet of constipate.