Standard Lemma guide

tractile

adj · 5 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɹæktaɪl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-tl̩/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-tɪl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈtɹækˌtaɪl/
  • General-American: /-t(ə)l/

1

adj

Meaning 1

Capable of being drawn or stretched out in length.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ductile, tensile

Antonyms: intractile, irretractile

2

adj

Meaning 2

Pertaining to traction or pulling.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1860, Henry David Thoreau, Journal entry dated 25 March, 1860, in Bradford Torrey (ed.), The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, December 1, 1859–July 31, 1860, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906, p. 221, The sleighing, the sledding, or sliding, is gone. We now begin to wheel or roll ourselves and commodities along, which requires more tractile power.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tractional, tractive

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Capable of being guided, influenced, or led.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tractable, ductile, fictile, formable, moldable, plastic, sequacious, shapeable, bowsome, buxom, compliant, hearsome, morigerous, obedible, obedient, obsequent, obsequious, tall, toward

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Of financial assets: able to be drawn or procured from a place of deposit; liquid.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • ductile copper
  • malleable metals such as gold
  • they soaked the leather to made it pliable
  • pliant molten glass
  • made of highly tensile steel alloy

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ductile, malleable, pliable, pliant, tensile

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin tractilis (“that can be dragged or pulled”) + English -ile (suffix meaning ‘capable of; tending to’). Tractilis is derived from Latin tractus + -ilis (suffix forming adjectives from the perfect passive participles of verbs); and tractus is the perfect passive participle of trahō (“to drag, pull; to draw out, extend, lengthen, prolong”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dhregh- (“to drag, pull; to run”).