Contractile \Con*tract"ile\, a. [Cf. F. 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.

Contractile vacuole (Zo["o]l.), a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or more.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)