What does expulsive mean?
Expulsive is an adjective describing something whose function is to expel — to drive or thrust contents outwards. It appears most often in medical and physiological contexts: the expulsive contractions of labour, the expulsive force of the heart pumping blood, or the expulsive efforts of a cough clearing the airways. Beyond medicine it can describe any mechanism or process that pushes matter outward, such as the expulsive stroke of a piston. The word derives from the Latin expulsivus, rooted in expellere, meaning to drive out, placing it in the same family as expulsion, impel, and propel. Formal and technical rather than conversational, expulsive is nonetheless useful for precisely describing outward-driving forces, whether inside the human body or in mechanical systems, where ordinary language would struggle for accuracy.
adjectiveServing or tending to expel, drive out, or thrust forth; used especially in medicine and physiology of the forces, muscles, or processes that push substances out of an organ or cavity of the body.
- Chiefly medical/physiological: having the function or power of expelling, as of muscular contractions or forces that push substances out of an organ or body cavity.
- More generally: tending to drive or thrust something out or away.
"The uterus exhibits powerful expulsive contractions during labour."
"The cough serves an expulsive function, clearing mucus from the airways."
"The engine relies on the expulsive stroke of the piston to discharge exhaust gases."
Same Latin root as 'impulse': every heartbeat's expulsive force is literally your heart 'driving out' blood — a word family born from the Latin pellere, to strike and drive.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of expulsive
Expulsive comes from the Latin expulsivus, derived from expulsus, past participle of expellere ('to drive out'), formed from ex- ('out') plus pellere ('to drive, strike'). It entered English in the early 17th century. Its root pellere also gave English a whole family of words sharing the idea of driving or pushing, including expulsion, impel, propel, repel, and dispel.
How expulsive is actually used
A technical, formal term encountered mainly in medical, physiological, and scientific writing rather than everyday speech.
Easily confused with expulsive
'Explosive' describes something that bursts outward violently or tends to explode, while 'expulsive' describes something that pushes or drives contents out, especially within the body.