contrastive
/kənˈtɹæs.tɪv/adjective
contrastive is spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-S-T-I-V-E: 11 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 90,432nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, contrastive means “Contrasting: tending to contrast; being in contrast” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in contrastive?
| Letters | 11: C-O-N-T-R-A-S-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 90,432nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is contrastive?
Contrastive appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 90,432nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce contrastive?
- UK /kənˈtɹɑː.stɪv/
- US /kənˈtɹæs.tɪv/
- US /ˈkɑntɹæs.tɪv/
Contrastive has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-contrastive.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of contrastive
- more contrastive comparative
- most contrastive superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does contrastive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Contrasting: tending to contrast; being in contrast.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does contrastive come from?
From contrast + -ive.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).