costive

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of costive In fact, their writings are more pungent now that they have been liberated from the costive confines of the movement. Jacob Heilbrunn, The New Republic, 23 Jan. 2020 Movies coiled up in other movies have a habit of becoming either costive or cute, but somehow Falardeau avoids the traps. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 15 May 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for costive
Adjective
  • Those who are approved must cope with notoriously unreliable in-home nursing, a byproduct of the state’s penurious reimbursement rates.
    Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 17 Jan. 2025
  • Those who are approved must cope with notoriously unreliable in-home nursing, a byproduct of the state’s penurious reimbursement rates.
    Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • But, even though there was nothing the slightest bit ungracious or ungenerous about her performance, it was felt more like the audience being asked to come to her.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 26 Apr. 2025
  • Perhaps most perplexing about Smash, though, is its weirdly cynical, ungenerous take on the Bombshell herself.
    Greg Evans, Deadline, 10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • But the iPhone 17 Air’s parsimonious speaker holes might suggest a phone with less capable audio.
    David Phelan, Forbes.com, 28 Apr. 2025
  • Some have felt conflicted, but after decades without success and 14 years of soulless drudgery under Mike Ashley’s parsimonious ownership, many were willing to accept anything for the promise or even just the hope of better times.
    Oliver Kay, The Athletic, 19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Here's the unvarnished truth: Medicaid's miserly reimbursement rates have driven countless doctors to stop accepting patients in the program.
    Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
  • Chrissy made a predictably miserly offer of $230,000, and obviously David did not take it.
    Laura Bradley, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • And, in the context of wanting to grow up, being subject to another person’s selfish patterns is a pretty fundamental life experience.
    Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 4 May 2025
  • These people start out as aging narcissists with selfish intentions who try to navigate when each of them gets grounded in their own vulnerability.
    David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 May 2025
Adjective
  • Danny is preparing her staff for an imminent natural disaster in this scene, so the tone’s quite serious already, and her opinion of Grey’s seems uncharitable at best.
    Rebecca Luther, TVLine, 3 Apr. 2025
  • An uncharitable interpretation of these findings would conclude that people with fibromyalgia are complainers.
    Peter Ubel, Forbes.com, 26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Elite firepower, stingy defense, and all-world goaltending to tie a nice bow on it.
    The Athletic NHL, New York Times, 3 May 2025
  • Detroit shot 15-of-32 from deep as a team — a blistering 46.9 percent clip against a Knicks defense that, while stingy on volume, continues to allow opponents to shoot an elite percentage from beyond the arc.
    Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 20 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Every year, a complacent, tightfisted city council turned down the recommendations.
    Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023
  • Kotick played the tightfisted owner of the Oakland A’s.
    Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 31 May 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Costive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/costive. Accessed 15 May. 2025.

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