Definition of "contrastive" [contrastive]

• Containing or forming a contrast; contrasting. (adjective)
• Linguistics Capable of distinguishing meaning; being in opposition: a phonological feature that is contrastive in one language but not in another. (adjective)
• Linguistics Pertaining to the study of structural contrasts: contrastive analysis. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Perhaps example number 10 could be explained as contrastive (or emphatic stress)."
• "While reading egs 6 – 12 (five instances of him and one of me) I found myself constantly trying to make them work, and I could, by imputing dramatic or contrastive stress as Duncan says, or contextual harmony or creative (eg poetic) language play, or other discoursal pressures."
• "This takes conscious contrastive action towards achieving that goal."