contrastive
/kənˈtɹæs.tɪv/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.04 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Contrasting: tending to contrast; being in contrast.
Example Sentences
- "This thesis is an attempt to apply the theory of transformational grammar to the Japanese language. […] Comparison of the structure of Japanese and English is also our concern, whenever possible, and it is seen that the transformational theory is helpful in such contrastive studies."
- "Consider the first, allegedly contrastive fact, that there were some bank robbings by Sutton rather than no robbings at all by Sutton."
- "Vowel length is contrastive."
Etymology
Etymology tree English contrast Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Old French -ifbor. Middle English -yf English -ive English contrastive From contrast + -ive.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kənˈtɹæs.tɪv/
- British English: /kənˈtɹɑː.stɪv/
Inflected Forms
more contrastive (comparative)
most contrastive (superlative)