contraction
[kuh n-trak-shuh n]
- 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).
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Origin of contraction
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. 2018
Related Words
recessionshrinkagereductiondecreasedeflationcondensationreducingcompressionabridgmentevaporationconfinementlesseningabbreviationnarrowingomissioncurtailmentwithdrawaldiminutionshrinkingconstrictionExamples from the Web for contraction
Contemporary Examples
“The regime army is in a state of contraction,” says Mustafa Sheikh, the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Megan: So let's start with the contraction of the market for lawyers: do we know what's causing it?
If that contraction has continued over the summer, we call it a recession.
The increase in public payrolls was helping to offset the contraction of private ones.
As a result the U.S.—and the world—economy experienced 12 successive quarters of contraction.
Historical Examples
A kind of universal cramp seized me—a contraction of every fibre of my body.
Wilfrid CumbermedeGeorge MacDonald
If the lameness arise from contraction, rather than from weakness, the best means will be frequent rubbing of the part affected.
White is produced by the dilation, black by the contraction, of the particles of sight.
TimaeusPlato
As the glue dries and breaks by contraction, it chips off the surface of the glass.
On Laboratory ArtsRichard Threlfall
Every muscle in his body responded with a contraction of full intensity.
The K-FactorHarry Harrison (AKA Henry Maxwell Dempsey)
contraction
- 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
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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
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
contraction
(kən-trăk′shən)- The act of contracting or the state of being contracted.
- The shortening and thickening of functioning muscle or muscle fiber.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
contraction
[kən-trăk′shən]
- The shortening and thickening of a muscle for the purpose of exerting force on or causing movement of a body part. See more at muscle.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
contraction
A word produced by running two or more words together and leaving out some of the letters or sounds. For example, isn't is a contraction of is not.
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Note
An apostrophe is generally used in contractions to show where letters or sounds have been left out.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.