Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Contraction
Con-trac′tion
,Noun.
[L.
contractio
: cf. F. contraction
.] 1.
The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted;
as,
. contraction
of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendon; the contraction
produced by cold2.
(Math.)
The process of shortening an operation.
3.
The act of incurring or becoming subject to, as liabilities, obligation, debts, etc.; the process of becoming subject to;
as, the
. contraction
of a disease4.
Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; – as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.
5.
(Gram.)
The shortening of a word, or of two words, by the omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne’er for never; can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is.
6.
A marriage contract.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Webster 1828 Edition
Contraction
CONTRACTION
,Noun.
1.
The act of drawing together, or shrinking; the act of shortening, narrowing or lessening extent or dimensions, by causing the parts of a body to approach nearer to each other; the state of being contracted.Oil of vitriol will throw the stomach into involuntary contractions.
The contraction of the heart is called systole.
Some things induce a contraction of the nerves.
2.
The act of shortening, abridging, or reducing within a narrower compass by any means. A poem may be improved by omissions or contractions.3.
In grammar, the shortening of a word, by the omission of a letter or syllable; as, cant for cannot; burst for bursted or bursten; Swedish and Danish ord, a word.4.
A contract; marriage contract. [Not used.]5.
Abbreviation.Definition 2024
contraction
contraction
English
Noun
contraction (plural contractions)
- A reversible reduction in size.
- (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.
- The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.
- (biology) A shortening of a muscle when it is used.
- (medicine) A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
- (linguistics) A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme (a word) are lost or reduced, such that it becomes a bound morpheme (a clitic) that attaches phonologically to an adjacent word.
- In English didn't, that's, and wanna, the endings -n't, -'s, and -a arose by contraction.
- (English orthography) A word with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe, usually resulting from the above process.
- "Don't" is a contraction of "do not."
- (medicine) Contracting a disease.
- The contraction of AIDS from toilet seats is extremely rare.
- (phonetics) Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word.
- The acquisition of something, generally negative.
- Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.
- (medicine) A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Derived terms
Related terms
- contract
- contractation
- contractive
Translations
reversible reduction in size
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shortening of a muscle when it is used
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painful shortening of the uterine muscles
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linguistics: process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme are lost or reduced
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word with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe
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medicine: contracting a disease
phonetics: loss of sounds from within a word — see syncope
acquisition of something, generally negative
medicine: stage of wound healing
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See also
- omission
- Category:English contractions
-
contraction on Wikipedia.Wikipedia