costive

Examples 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
  • Even so, the general picture of a mother’s absence and a daughter’s understandable resentment at having had to pick up the maternal slack in penurious conditions comes through loud and clear.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2024
  • Enormous numbers of them have been uprooted from a satisfactory social position by war, revolution and inflation, and thrust out to seek an uncertain and penurious existence. . . .
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 18 Dec. 2011
Adjective
  • But neither can anyone seriously accuse the United States of being ungenerous with its citizens’ lives and treasure or of having no ideals.
    Joshua Landis, Foreign Affairs, 19 Jan. 2016
  • This is the problem with the show: These women are just concocting reasons why the people on the other side suck, and it’s become the most uncharitable, the most ungenerous thing on Bravo.
    Brian Moylan, Vulture, 15 July 2024
Adjective
  • Under Mike Ashley, the Premier League’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations — which permit losses of up to £105m over a rolling three-year period — were never an issue given his parsimonious nature.
    Chris Waugh, The Athletic, 30 June 2024
  • To articulate its outlines sufficiently is, almost by definition, to spill past time, to run counter to the withholding, parsimonious control that has characterized the Obamas all along.
    Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2024
Adjective
  • The show finds Homer desperate to scrape together enough money to pay for a fun family Christmas after his miserly boss, Mr. Burns, cancelled the holiday bonus and Marge had to empty the piggy bank to remove a tattoo that Bart had gotten at the mall.
    Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
  • The book is a 92-page novel about Scrooge, a miserly man transformed into a better person after the ghost of Marley, his former partner, and three Spirits visit him on Christmas Eve and show him his past, present, and future.
    Jennifer Borresen, USA TODAY, 22 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Hill went rogue and selfish, again, by cryptically hinting a coach pulled him out of the game due to his left wrist injury.
    Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 6 Jan. 2025
  • But Abbott, about well-meaning teachers and the kids in their charge, is aimed at families, while Sunny is an adults-only show about some of the most selfish and despicable characters in sitcom history.
    Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Mangum wasn’t the only fraudster who preyed on the Left’s uncharitable assumptions about young white men, in particular, but non-minorities broadly.
    The Editors, National Review, 17 Dec. 2024
  • He was tapped to star in the 1979 basketball comedy The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, which survived uncharitable reviews to become a cult classic over the years.
    David Aldridge, The Athletic, 25 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • In the last two seasons, Texas has fielded one of the stingiest defenses in the country.
    Sam Khan Jr., The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025
  • The Chargers authored the league’s stingiest defense in terms of points allowed (17.7 per game), and the recent return of J.K. Dobbins from a knee injury gives them an explosive option in a backfield that can also grind out tough yardage behind a stout offensive line.
    Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 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

Thesaurus Entries Near costive

Cite this Entry

“Costive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/costive. Accessed 17 Jan. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!