protractive

From protract +‎ -ive.

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈtɹæktɪv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æktɪv

protractive (comparative more protractive, superlative most protractive)

1. Drawing out or lengthening in time; prolonging; continuing or delaying.
   • 1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: Jacob Tonson , →OCLC:

     He suffered their protractive arts.

   • 1970, Managing Human Behavior, page 100:

     In this case one half of the group had a contractive distraction imposed (decreasing work time) by a confederate; the other a protractive distraction (increasing work time).

   • 1986, August W. Smith, Proceedings of the International Conference on Mental Images, Values, & Reality, page 88:

     Such a function could only be used in the protractive approach to evaluate different states of the system , for it does not necessarily specify an established point of convergency .

2. (linguistics) Indicating an action or state that is ongoing or sustained.
   • 1979, Edward S. Klima, ‎Ursula Bellugi, The Signs of Language, page 292:

     One inflected form of the durative verb is made with a long tense hold and without motion; the nuance in meaning is the same as that of the protractive modulation of adjectival predicates and translates as 'to stare at (uninterruptedly)' (figure 12.15b).

   • 1990, Harry Bornstein, Manual Communication: Implications for Education, page 88:

     The protractive, durational, and continuative morphemes are examples of nonpunctual modifications .

   • 2008, Rafael Salaberry, Marking Past Tense in Second Language Acquisition, page 255:

     Fleischmann (1990:22), Sebastian and Slobin (1994: 257-8) also discuss the classivication of so-called aspectual verbs into inchative verbs (e.g. empezar, to start), protractive verbs ( e.g. , quedarse, to remain), cumulative verbs ( e.g., continuar, to continue) and and empletive verbs (e.g. acabar de, to finish)..

3. (zoology) Extending forward or projecting outward.
   • 1888, Pamphlets on Biology: Kofoid collection - Volume 2788, page 34:

     Axial ribs not strongly protractive.

   • 1943, United States National Museum, Bulletin - Issues 180-181, page 111:

     This keel on the first half of the last whorl consists of oblique, protractive strong short ridges, which on the last half disappear and give place to rough corrugations.

   • 1993, Belgian Journal of Zoology - Volume 123, page 248:

     The horizontal component of the resultant muscular force is protractive during the closing stages,