contraction

[kuh n-trak-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR contraction ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an act or instance of contracting.

the quality or state of being contracted.

a shortened form of a word or group of words, with the omitted letters often replaced in written English by an apostrophe, as e'er for ever, isn't for is not, dep't for department.

Physiology. the change in a muscle by which it becomes thickened and shortened.

a restriction or withdrawal, as of currency or of funds available as call money.

a decrease in economic and industrial activity (opposed to expansion).

Origin of contraction

1375–1425; late Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin contractiōn- (stem of contractiō), equivalent to contract(us) drawn together, past participle of contrahere (see contract) + -iōn- -ion

Related formscon·trac·tion·al, adjectivenon·con·trac·tion, nouno·ver·con·trac·tion, nounre·con·trac·tion, noun

Usage note

Contractions such as isn't, couldn't, can't, weren't, he'll, they're occur chiefly, although not exclusively, in informal speech and writing. They are common in personal letters, business letters, journalism, and fiction; they are rare in scientific and scholarly writing. Contractions occur in formal writing mainly as representations of speech.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for contraction

recession, shrinkage, reduction, decrease, deflation, condensation, reducing, compression, abridgment, evaporation, confinement, lessening, abbreviation, narrowing, omission, curtailment, withdrawal, diminution, shrinking, constriction

Examples from the Web for contraction

Contemporary Examples of contraction

“The regime army is in a state of contraction,” says Mustafa Sheikh, the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Inside Bashar al-Assad’s Army
Mike Giglio
December 10, 2012
Megan: So let's start with the contraction of the market for lawyers: do we know what's causing it?
The Perils of Law School
Megan McArdle
September 24, 2012
If that contraction has continued over the summer, we call it a recession.
The Eurozone: A Sinking Ship
David Frum
August 14, 2012
The increase in public payrolls was helping to offset the contraction of private ones.
A Secret the Republicans Know But Will Never Admit
Michael Tomasky
June 11, 2012
As a result the U.S.—and the world—economy experienced 12 successive quarters of contraction.
Why Keynes Is King
Robert Skidelsky
October 13, 2009

Historical Examples of contraction

A kind of universal cramp seized me—a contraction of every fibre of my body.
Wilfrid Cumbermede
George MacDonald
If the lameness arise from contraction, rather than from weakness, the best means will be frequent rubbing of the part affected.
The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches,
Mary Eaton
White is produced by the dilation, black by the contraction, of the particles of sight.
Timaeus
Plato
As the glue dries and breaks by contraction, it chips off the surface of the glass.
On Laboratory Arts
Richard Threlfall
Every muscle in his body responded with a contraction of full intensity.
The K-Factor
Harry Harrison (AKA Henry Maxwell Dempsey)

British Dictionary definitions for contraction

contraction

noun

an instance of contracting or the state of being contracted

physiol any normal shortening or tensing of an organ or part, esp of a muscle, e.g. during childbirth

pathol any abnormal tightening or shrinking of an organ or part

a shortening of a word or group of words, often marked in written English by an apostropheI've come for I have come

Derived Formscontractive, adjectivecontractively, adverbcontractiveness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for contraction

late 14c., "action of making a contract" (especially of marriage), also "action of shrinking or shortening," from Old French contraction (13c.), or directly from Latin contractionem (nominative contractio), noun of action from past participle stem of contrahere (see contract (n.)). Meaning "action of acquiring (a disease) is from c.1600. Grammatical sense is from 1706; meaning "a contracted word or words" is from 1755. Contractions of the uterus in labor of childbirth attested from 1962.

contraction in Medicine