contract

American  

[kon-trakt, kuhn-trakt] / ˈkɒn trækt, kənˈtrækt /

noun

• contracts
  plural

1. an agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified.

2. an agreement enforceable by law.

3. the written form of an agreement enforceable by law.

4. the division of law dealing with contracts.

5. Also called contract bridge.  a variety of bridge in which the side that wins the bid can earn toward game only that number of tricks named in the contract, additional points being credited above the line.

6. (in auction or contract bridge)

   1. a commitment by the declarer and their partner to take six tricks plus the number specified by the final bid made.

   2. the final bid that specifies the number of tricks to which players must commit.

   3. the number of tricks to which players are committed, plus six.

7. the formal agreement of marriage; betrothal.

8. Slang. an arrangement for a hired assassin to kill a specific person.

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adjective

1. under an agreement enforceable by law; governed or arranged by special legal agreement.

   As a contract carrier with us, you'll have access to more loads than with any other provider in North America.

verb (used with object)

• contracts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• contracted,
  past participle,  past
• contracting
  present participle

1. to draw together; make shorter, thinner, narrower, etc..

   In order to contract a muscle, the opposite muscle group has to be relaxed.

   Synonyms:

   shrink, shrivel, narrow, lessen, shorten, reduce

   Antonyms:

   expand

2. to shorten (a word, phrase, etc.) by combining or omitting some of its elements.

   Contracting “do not” yields “don't.”

3. to get or acquire, as by exposure to something contagious.

   I contracted malaria but didn't recognize the symptoms at first.

4. to incur, as a liability or obligation.

   He was very extravagant at college, and contracted many debts.

5. to settle or establish by agreement.

   Bismarck contracted an alliance with Austria to counteract Russian designs in Eastern Europe.

6. to assign (a job, work, project, etc.) by contract.

   The publisher contracted the artwork.

7. to enter into an agreement with.

   We contracted a freelancer to do the editing.

8. to enter into (friendship, acquaintance, etc.).

9. to betroth.

10. to wrinkle.

    to contract the brows.

verb (used without object)

• contracts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• contracted,
  past participle,  past
• contracting
  present participle

1. to become reduced in length, width, thickness, etc., by drawing together; become smaller.

   The pupils of his eyes contracted in the light.

2. to enter into an agreement.

   We contracted to have the books printed and bound by Willow Press.

verb phrase

1. contract out to hire an outside contractor to produce or do.

idioms

1. put out a contract on, to hire or attempt to hire an assassin to kill (someone).

   The mob put out a contract on the informer.

contract British  

verb

1. to make or become smaller, narrower, shorter, etc

   metals contract as the temperature is reduced

2. to enter into an agreement with (a person, company, etc) to deliver (goods or services) or to do (something) on mutually agreed and binding terms, often in writing

3. to draw or be drawn together; coalesce or cause to coalesce

4. (tr) to acquire, incur, or become affected by (a disease, liability, debt, etc)

5. (tr) to shorten (a word or phrase) by the omission of letters or syllables, usually indicated in writing by an apostrophe

6. phonetics to unite (two vowels) or (of two vowels) to be united within a word or at a word boundary so that a new long vowel or diphthong is formed

7. (tr) to wrinkle or draw together (the brow or a muscle)

8. (tr) to arrange (a marriage) for; betroth

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noun

1. a formal agreement between two or more parties

2. a document that states the terms of such an agreement

3. the branch of law treating of contracts

4. marriage considered as a formal agreement

5. See contract bridge

6. bridge

   1. (in the bidding sequence before play) the highest bid, which determines trumps and the number of tricks one side must try to make

   2. the number and suit of these tricks

7. slang

   1. a criminal agreement to kill a particular person in return for an agreed sum of money

   2. ( as modifier )

      a contract killing

contract Cultural  

1. A legally binding agreement between two or more parties.

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Synonym Usage

See agreement. Contract, compress, concentrate, condense imply retaining original content but reducing the amount of space occupied. Contract means to cause to draw more closely together: to contract a muscle. Compress suggests fusing to become smaller by means of fairly uniform external pressure: to compress gases into liquid form. Concentrate implies causing to gather around a point: to concentrate troops near an objective; to concentrate one's strength. Condense implies increasing the compactness, or thickening the consistency of a homogeneous mass: to condense milk. It is also used to refer to the reducing in length of a book or the like.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• contractee
  noun
• contractibility
  noun
• contractibleness
  noun
• postcontract
  noun
• overcontract
  verb (used with object)
• recontract
  verb (used with object)
• contractible
  adjective
• noncontract
  adjective
• contractibly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• contracts
  plural

Participles

• contracting
  present
• contracted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• contract
  simple
• contracts
  simple
• have contracted
  perfect
• has contracted
  perfect
• am contracting
  progressive
• are contracting
  progressive
• is contracting
  progressive
• have been contracting
  perfect progressive
• has been contracting
  perfect progressive

Past

• contracted
  simple
• had contracted
  perfect
• was contracting
  progressive
• were contracting
  progressive
• had been contracting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will contract
  simple
• will have contracted
  perfect
• will be contracting
  progressive
• will have been contracting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of contract

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English noun contract, contrait, from Old French, from Latin contractus “undertaking a transaction, agreement” (equivalent to contrac-, stem of contrahere “to draw in, bring together, enter into an agreement” + -tus verbal noun suffix); the verb is from Latin contractus, past participle of contrahere

Explanation

When you and someone else have agreed on something and that agreement is both binding and enforceable by law, you have a contract. When you rent an apartment, you and your future landlord sign a rental contract. You can also use the word in this sense as a verb meaning "to hire." Wouldn't you like to contract someone to clean your room for you? In other verbal uses of contract, place the accent on the second syllable — kun-TRAKT. If you contract a disease, you catch it, but only use this if it's something serious. You catch a cold, but contract malaria. Contract also means "shrink." When the economy contracts, consumers stop buying things, and people lose their jobs.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

contract contracts contracted contracting

“We don’t have anything in our contract forcing the issue regarding posting our work,” he says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

He has since taken his argument to world football governing body Fifa, who ruled earlier this week that overruling the contract was not within its jurisdiction.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

A previous contract for the facility stated that services must comply with “federal, state and local laws and standards. Should a conflict exist between any of these standards, the most stringent shall apply.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

The contract situation with Mateta is the latest twist to what has been a rollercoaster time for the Frenchman at Crystal Palace.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

“Think it over. We’ll draw up a contract for you to look over. We hope you’ll call us.”

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Joshua and Fury have separate contracts with Sela.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

A 2021 law allows people to sue for damages when private detention center operators fail to follow the care standards laid out in their contracts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

In March, the government broke off its contracts with Anthropic and designated the company a supply chain risk after it refused to grant the military unfettered access to its AI models.

From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026

Changing prices and wages can be a hassle, or be bound by contracts, so prices can actually be “sticky.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

“It’s possible the brokers have thrown the contracts away,” Druskin said.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Bloom’s nonprofit was contracted by the Orange County Water District to band the bird in April 2022, and it’s believed she was born a month prior.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Lomas was "excited" to come home with her family after spending weeks in hospital but then contracted an infection and deteriorated, the inquest heard.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

The fabricated content appeared on X in posts impersonating legitimate French media outlets and falsely claimed that Attal had Parkinson's disease and that Philippe had contracted an illness.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

FAI is expected to have contracted further year to date, while the property sector remains stuck in the doldrums.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

I contracted my face into a smile and nodded.

From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green

If you have worked in the world of defense budgeting, spending or contracting, we’d like to hear from you.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

New-home prices in China have been contracting for three years.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

Just last week, New Jersey sued Amazon alleging its contracting system illegally suppressed delivery workers’ wages.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

The report from a pest control company said it could put people and animals with open wounds at risk of contracting disease.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

As she passed the car she felt the warmth of its radiator, as intimate as body heat, and heard the click of contracting metal.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Related Words

• arrangement
• bargain
• bond
• commitment
• guarantee
• obligation
• pact
• pledge
• record
• settlement