noun
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a person or firm that contracts to supply materials or labour, esp for building
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something that contracts, esp a muscle
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law a person who is a party to a contract
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the declarer in bridge
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of contractor
From Late Latin, dating back to 1540–50; see origin at contract, -tor
Explanation
A contractor is someone who is hired to build something. As a contractor at a building site, it is highly recommended you keep your hard hat on at all times. When you think of contractor, you may picture construction sites; however, the word has other meanings as well. Legally, if you sign a contract to perform a specific job then you are what is known as a contractor. When there are not many full-time jobs available for workers, sometimes the only option is to become a freelance contractor, which might mean that you only work part-time or when needed.
Vocabulary lists containing contractor
The Circuit
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Structural Engineering
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -er, -or
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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.
See Examples For:
One contractor said it was the most complex project he’d ever worked on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The sale by the GEO Group, a Florida-based government contractor, follows an initial $1.5-billion sale over the summer of two other California detention facilities by GEO’s competitor, CoreCivic of Tennessee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Higgins Homes was the principal contractor and designer of the project to build a block of flats.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The Israeli military has identified five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor.
From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026
He enjoyed building and fixing things, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to become a contractor or a builder.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
"All of the testing and modeling work done at Goddard and by contractors at L3Harris and BAE Space and Mission Systems left only small corrections for us to make to bring everything into near-perfect alignment."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026
Their report also signalled the presence of South American military contractors but could not identify who employed them.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Employer-sponsored relief funds like Grant Circle are designed to provide emergency grants to gig workers and independent contractors in response to a crisis.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
The CoC board, which includes representatives of homeless services contractors, hired outside consultants to set up an emergency bidding process and score the applicants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
The town fathers of a thousand communities lend willing ears to the chemical salesman and the eager contractors who will rid the roadsides of “brush” — for a price.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
