Definition of Contractility

1. Noun. The capability or quality of shrinking or contracting, especially by muscle fibers and even some other forms of living matter.

Generic synonyms: Ability
Specialized synonyms: Astringency, Stypsis
Derivative terms: Contractile

Definition of Contractility

1. n. The quality or property by which bodies shrink or contract.

Definition of Contractility

1. Noun. The condition of being able to contract or shrink (used especially of muscles) ¹

2. Noun. The extent to which something contracts or shrinks ¹

3. Noun. A term used in physiology to describe the performance of cardiac muscle ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Contractility

1. [n -TIES]

Medical Definition of Contractility

1. Capacity for becoming short in response to a suitable stimulus. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Contractility

contractedly
contractedness
contractee
contractees
contractibilities
contractibility
contractible
contractibleness
contractile
contractile organ
contractile proteins
contractile ring
contractile stricture
contractile vacuole
contractilities
contractility
contracting
contraction
contraction band
contraction band necrosis
contraction stress test
contractional
contractionary
contractions
contractive
contractivity
contractless
contractor
contractor combatant
contractorization

Literary usage of Contractility

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Handbook of Physiology by William Dobinson Halliburton (1913)
"CHAPTER VIII IRRITABILITY AND Contractility Irritability or Excitability is ... Contractility is the power that certain tissues possess of responding to a ..."

2. Report of the Annual Meeting (1841)
"On the Connection between the Nervous System and Muscular Contractility. By Dr. JOHN REID. This communication was an extension of that made by Dr. Reid to ..."

3. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1846)
"The author, without attempting to give all the details in relation to post-mortem contractility, presents thus a few of its leading features. ..."

4. Elements of Physiology by Anthelme Richerand (1819)
"The cause of this last modification of contractility, appears to depend on the ... Sensibility and contractility offer a vast number of differences, ..."

5. A Practical Treatise on the Medical and Surgical Uses of Electricity by George Miller Beard, Alphonso David Rockwell (1881)
"In case of drowning electro-contractility disappeared in three hours and a quarter. In some cases where rigor mortis has not appeared, where the temperature ..."

6. Diseases of the heart by James Mackenzie (1908)
"Necessity for recognizing exhaustion of contractility. 176. The function of contractility. 177. Conditions inducing exhaustion of contractility. 178. ..."

7. The Physiological Anatomy and Physiology of Man by Robert Bentley Todd, William Bowman (1857)
"It is clear, from that which precedes, that contractility is a property residing in ... We know that contractility is exhausted both by disuse of a muscle, ..."

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