Having the quality or effect of compressing, squeezing, or pressing things together tightly.
From 'compress' plus '-ive' (having the quality of). It describes forces, stresses, or actions that squeeze things into smaller spaces.
Engineers distinguish between 'compressive strength' (how much squeezing a material can take) and 'tensile strength' (how much pulling)—and concrete is great at the first but terrible at the second!
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