contrastive

con·tras·tive

adjective

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

Related Forms:

con·tras′tive·ly
adverb

con·tras′tive·ness
noun

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.