tractile
/ˈtɹækˌtaɪl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Capable of being drawn or stretched out in length.
adj
Pertaining to traction or pulling.
Example Sentences
- "Becauſe it [the dormouse] dravveth the hinder legges after it like a Hare, it is called Animal tractile, for it goeth by iumpes and little leapes."
- "The Conſiſtences of Bodies are very diuers: […] Fragile, Tough; Flexible, Inflexible; Tractile, or to be dravvne forth in length, Intractile; […]"
- "[H]e carried a piece [of the iron ore] to a blacksmith forge, and ascertained that it was of a very fine, tractile quality: […]"
- "“Oh, Gas Man, Gas Man, answer me— / My lines are long and tractile— / Which kind of meter would you see, / A spondee or a dactyl?”"
- "Mucus is cohesive and tractile, and is not very adhesive or brittle (even when considerably desiccated) as are the casts commonly referred to as true casts."
- "Under these conditions starchy components gelatinize, proteins denature and the tractile components are restructured and/or aligned."
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”).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɹækˌtaɪl/
- British English: /ˈtɹæktaɪl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more tractile (comparative)
most tractile (superlative)