Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Contractile

Contractile , adjective

[Compare French contractile.]

tending to contract; having the power or property of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues.
The heart's contractile force. — H. Brooke
Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance. — Hixley
Collocations (1)
Contractile vacuole (Zoology) , a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or more.