Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for contracture. Search instead for occult+fracture.

contracture

American  
[kuhn-trak-cher] / kənˈtræk tʃər /

noun

Pathology.

  1. a shortening or distortion of muscular or connective tissue due to spasm, scar, or paralysis of the antagonist of the contracting muscle.

contracture British  
/ kənˈtræktʃə /

noun

  1. a disorder in which a skeletal muscle is permanently tightened (contracted), most often caused by spasm or paralysis of the antagonist muscle that maintains normal muscle tension

"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

Other Word Forms

  • contractured adjective

Etymology

Origin of contracture

1650–60; < Latin contractūra, equivalent to contract ( us ) drawn together (past participle of contrahere; contract ) + -ūra -ure

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.