contract

American  

[kon-trakt, kuhn-trakt] / ˈkɒn trækt, kənˈtrækt /

noun

• contracts
  plural

1. an agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified.

2. an agreement enforceable by law.

3. the written form of an agreement enforceable by law.

4. the division of law dealing with contracts.

5. Also called contract bridge.  a variety of bridge in which the side that wins the bid can earn toward game only that number of tricks named in the contract, additional points being credited above the line.

6. (in auction or contract bridge)

   1. a commitment by the declarer and their partner to take six tricks plus the number specified by the final bid made.

   2. the final bid that specifies the number of tricks to which players must commit.

   3. the number of tricks to which players are committed, plus six.

7. the formal agreement of marriage; betrothal.

8. Slang. an arrangement for a hired assassin to kill a specific person.

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adjective

1. under an agreement enforceable by law; governed or arranged by special legal agreement.

   As a contract carrier with us, you'll have access to more loads than with any other provider in North America.

verb (used with object)

• contracts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• contracted,
  past participle,  past
• contracting
  present participle

1. to draw together; make shorter, thinner, narrower, etc..

   In order to contract a muscle, the opposite muscle group has to be relaxed.

   Synonyms:

   shrink, shrivel, narrow, lessen, shorten, reduce

   Antonyms:

   expand

2. to shorten (a word, phrase, etc.) by combining or omitting some of its elements.

   Contracting “do not” yields “don't.”

3. to get or acquire, as by exposure to something contagious.

   I contracted malaria but didn't recognize the symptoms at first.

4. to incur, as a liability or obligation.

   He was very extravagant at college, and contracted many debts.

5. to settle or establish by agreement.

   Bismarck contracted an alliance with Austria to counteract Russian designs in Eastern Europe.

6. to assign (a job, work, project, etc.) by contract.

   The publisher contracted the artwork.

7. to enter into an agreement with.

   We contracted a freelancer to do the editing.

8. to enter into (friendship, acquaintance, etc.).

9. to betroth.

10. to wrinkle.

    to contract the brows.

verb (used without object)

• contracts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• contracted,
  past participle,  past
• contracting
  present participle

1. to become reduced in length, width, thickness, etc., by drawing together; become smaller.

   The pupils of his eyes contracted in the light.

2. to enter into an agreement.

   We contracted to have the books printed and bound by Willow Press.

verb phrase

1. contract out to hire an outside contractor to produce or do.

idioms

1. put out a contract on, to hire or attempt to hire an assassin to kill (someone).

   The mob put out a contract on the informer.

contract British  

verb

1. to make or become smaller, narrower, shorter, etc

   metals contract as the temperature is reduced

2. to enter into an agreement with (a person, company, etc) to deliver (goods or services) or to do (something) on mutually agreed and binding terms, often in writing

3. to draw or be drawn together; coalesce or cause to coalesce

4. (tr) to acquire, incur, or become affected by (a disease, liability, debt, etc)

5. (tr) to shorten (a word or phrase) by the omission of letters or syllables, usually indicated in writing by an apostrophe

6. phonetics to unite (two vowels) or (of two vowels) to be united within a word or at a word boundary so that a new long vowel or diphthong is formed

7. (tr) to wrinkle or draw together (the brow or a muscle)

8. (tr) to arrange (a marriage) for; betroth

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noun

1. a formal agreement between two or more parties

2. a document that states the terms of such an agreement

3. the branch of law treating of contracts

4. marriage considered as a formal agreement

5. See contract bridge

6. bridge

   1. (in the bidding sequence before play) the highest bid, which determines trumps and the number of tricks one side must try to make

   2. the number and suit of these tricks

7. slang

   1. a criminal agreement to kill a particular person in return for an agreed sum of money

   2. ( as modifier )

      a contract killing

contract Cultural  

1. A legally binding agreement between two or more parties.

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Synonym Usage

See agreement. Contract, compress, concentrate, condense imply retaining original content but reducing the amount of space occupied. Contract means to cause to draw more closely together: to contract a muscle. Compress suggests fusing to become smaller by means of fairly uniform external pressure: to compress gases into liquid form. Concentrate implies causing to gather around a point: to concentrate troops near an objective; to concentrate one's strength. Condense implies increasing the compactness, or thickening the consistency of a homogeneous mass: to condense milk. It is also used to refer to the reducing in length of a book or the like.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• contractee
  noun
• contractibility
  noun
• contractibleness
  noun
• postcontract
  noun
• overcontract
  verb (used with object)
• recontract
  verb (used with object)
• contractible
  adjective
• noncontract
  adjective
• contractibly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• contracts
  plural

Participles

• contracting
  present
• contracted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• contract
  simple
• contracts
  simple
• have contracted
  perfect
• has contracted
  perfect
• am contracting
  progressive
• are contracting
  progressive
• is contracting
  progressive
• have been contracting
  perfect progressive
• has been contracting
  perfect progressive

Past

• contracted
  simple
• had contracted
  perfect
• was contracting
  progressive
• were contracting
  progressive
• had been contracting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will contract
  simple
• will have contracted
  perfect
• will be contracting
  progressive
• will have been contracting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of contract

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English noun contract, contrait, from Old French, from Latin contractus “undertaking a transaction, agreement” (equivalent to contrac-, stem of contrahere “to draw in, bring together, enter into an agreement” + -tus verbal noun suffix); the verb is from Latin contractus, past participle of contrahere

Explanation

When you and someone else have agreed on something and that agreement is both binding and enforceable by law, you have a contract. When you rent an apartment, you and your future landlord sign a rental contract. You can also use the word in this sense as a verb meaning "to hire." Wouldn't you like to contract someone to clean your room for you? In other verbal uses of contract, place the accent on the second syllable — kun-TRAKT. If you contract a disease, you catch it, but only use this if it's something serious. You catch a cold, but contract malaria. Contract also means "shrink." When the economy contracts, consumers stop buying things, and people lose their jobs.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

contract contracts contracted contracting

"Comparing the way our muscles contract to the way Spirostomum works is like comparing gas to electric power," Elting says.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

“It’s like a social contract to be a good human once you get in, because everybody’s been excited to be there,” said Audrey Fix Schaefer, the communications director for the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Typically, investors immediately stop receiving their coupon payments, and if the reference asset hasn’t recovered past the barrier by the time the underlying contract matures, investors will risk losing principal.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

His goo can become tacos or hot dogs or, presumably, whatever else the institutional contract requires.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

Spassky agreed to everything in the contract, and said from his home outside of Paris: “Fischer pulls me out of oblivion. It is a miracle and I am grateful.”

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

The manufacturers called for lower industrial energy costs, support to help firms qualify for aerospace and defence contracts, and a West Midlands programme to accelerate the shift into those sectors.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

Last year alone, the German government procured defense contracts worth over three times as much as those in the U.K., according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, an independent think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

McPeake estimates that $47 billion of capital spending on Nvidia’s upcoming Rubin GPUs could lead to $40 billion in annualized revenue for neoclouds through shorter-term contracts, or $20 billion from longer-term agreements.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Despite her agreement, Kelley fled to Michigan, where surrogacy contracts were unenforceable.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Recognizing that the architects’ delays had put everything behind schedule, he inserted into the construction contracts clauses that made him a “czar,” as the Chicago Tribune put it.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

While the index has stalled, the P/E ratio has contracted by more than 9%.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Tesla’s overall U.S. sales fell 16% so far this year, while the broader electric-vehicle market contracted by 30%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

"We never saw the finished product, and they couldn't get the actors to come back again because they were contracted on other series or other shows, and that's why it never got finished."

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

There is no psychological support and almost all of the deportees have contracted malaria.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

“I’m fine, child. I can wait until we get to the farm. I seem to have contracted a summer grippe.”

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

When they get out, he says, they plan to start a contracting business together.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said the underlying condition made the infant especially vulnerable to severe illness after contracting measles.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

When making a large purchase or contracting for a service, you might feel shy about asking the seller to lower their price, but it is a good habit to get into.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

Two unvaccinated people died after contracting the highly contagious disease, the state health department said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

This additional heat also increases the pressure of the gas until it is sufficient to balance the gravitational attraction, and the gas stops contracting.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking

Related Words

• arrangement
• bargain
• bond
• commitment
• guarantee
• obligation
• pact
• pledge
• record
• settlement