Contraction meaning

kən-trăk'shən
The definition of contraction is the lengthening or shortening of a muscle fiber or a word formed by combining the sounds of two longer words.

An example of a contraction is the action of the uterus during the birth process.

An example of a contraction is the word doesn't from does not.

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The shortening and thickening of functioning muscle or muscle fiber.
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A period of decreased business activity.
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A word, as won't from will not, or phrase, as o'clock from of the clock, formed by omitting or combining some of the sounds of a longer phrase.
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A period of decrease in business activity.
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The shortening of a word or phrase by the omission of one or more sounds or letters.
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A word form resulting from this (Ex.: she's for she is, aren't for are not)
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The act of contracting or the state of being contracted.
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The shortening and thickening of functioning muscle or muscle fiber.
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The shortening and thickening of a muscle for the purpose of exerting force on or causing movement of a body part.
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The shortening of a word or phrase by omitting letters or syllables. In the English language, a contraction generally, but not always, marks the omitted letters or syllables with an apostrophe or a period. Telco, for example, is a contraction of telephone company. Doesn't is a contraction of does not. Mr. is a contraction of mister, a title of courtesy for a man. Mrs. is a contraction of mistress, a title of courtesy for a married or widowed woman. Once upon a time, people used the title of courtesy Miss to denote a girl or unmarried woman.The feminist movement of the 1970s forced a change to Ms., which makes no distinction in a woman's marital status. Now we frequently delete such titles, altogether, leaving those who don't know the person to guess at both his or her gender and marital status, which is all quite silly, even if it is PC (politically correct). (Note: PC is an initialism.) See also initialism and portmanteau.
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(economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.

The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.

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(biology) A shortening of a muscle when it is used.
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(medicine) A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
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(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.

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(medicine) Contracting a disease.

The contraction of AIDS from toilet seats is extremely rare.

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(phonetics) Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word.
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The acquisition of something, generally negative.

Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.

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(medicine) A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together.
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A contracting or being contracted.
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The shortening and thickening of a muscle fiber or a muscle in action, esp. of the uterus during labor.
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The act of contracting or the state of being contracted.
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The formation of such a word.
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(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."

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Origin of contraction

From Old French contraction, from Latin contractiō.

Sentence Examples

  • The active contraction of muscular tissue has no counterpart in the plant.

  • The loose material may, and in an arid region does, consist only of portions of the higher parts of the surface detached by the expansion and contraction produced by heating and cooling due to radiation.

  • This soil is spongy, and, undergoing alternate contraction and expansion from being alternately comparatively dry and saturated with moisture, allows the heavy blocks to slip down by their own weight into the valley, where they become piled up, the valley stream afterwards removing the soil from among and over them.

  • in the dead animal, and for its great elasticity and power of muscular contraction while living.

  • He had discovered a contraction in the vein of fluid (vena contracta) which issued from the orifice, and found that, at the distance of about a diameter of the aperture, the section of the vein was contracted in the subduplicate ratio of two to one.

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Related articles

Words near contraction in the Dictionary