Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of contracted
Explanation
Something contracted has shrunk or become smaller. Your pupils tend to be contracted in bright sunlight. Contracted is an adjective that usually describes physical things. If your eyebrows look contracted, they are probably furrowed and scrunched up. If your tummy is contracted, it is probably drawn in and flat. Economies and budgets can also be contracted, if they have undergone the painful process of shrinking. If your belly is contracted, buy a bikini. If your budget is contracted, you are better off not buying anything.
Vocabulary lists containing contracted
"Watership Down" by Richard Adams, Chapter 43-Epilogue
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Stories of Ourselves
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Hunting by Stars
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the time, Stewart told Complex that Monroe contracted meningitis while filming in Las Vegas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
It makes a total of eight contracted players who have been involved in or present for late-night incidents in the past year – more than a quarter of the 30 men on England deals.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
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
Its customers sign three-year contracts, leaving two years of obligations with no contracted revenue behind them, a gap it has to close by re-signing those customers or finding new ones.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
He felt a discomfort in his very bones, as if they contracted so that they might struggle out of the mercenary peel of flesh and walk abroad.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
