Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Tending to dilate; causing dilatation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Causing dilation; tending to dilate, on enlarge; expansive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective That dilates, or causes dilation

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Cold is the attractive or astringent power, comparatively uncounteracted by the dilative, the diminution of which is the proportional increase of the contractive.

    Literary Remains, Volume 2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

  • In like manner, sulphur represents the active and passive principle of fire: the contractive force, or negative electricity -- oxygen -- produces flame; and the dilative force, or positive electricity -- hydrogen -- produces warmth.

    Literary Remains, Volume 2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

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