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(Zoöl.), a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or more.