contraction
nounUK /kənˈtɹækʃn̩/ · US /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/
Etymology
PIE word *ḱóm From Late Middle English contraccioun, contraxion (“spasm, contraction; constriction, shrinking; act of pressing together”), from Old French contraction (modern French contraction), from Latin contractiō(n) (“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”), from contrahō (“to draw things together, assemble, collect, gather; to enter into a contract”) + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results). Contrahō is derived from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of objects) + trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)). By surface analysis, contract + -ion (suffix denoting actions or processes, or their results).
13 senses
- 1An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of…
- 2An act of entering into a contract or agreement…
- 3The process of contracting or becoming infected with a disease.
- 4An abridgement or shortening of writing, etc.; an…
- 5A stage of wound healing during which the wound edges…
- 6A shortening of a muscle during its use; specifically, a…
- 7A period of economic decline or negative growth.
- 8A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme…
- 9In the English language: a shortened form of a word…
- 10Synonym of syncope (“the elision or loss of a sound from…
- 11The preimage of the given ideal under the given homomorphism.
- 12A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the…
- 13An act of collecting or gathering.
› Senses relating to becoming involved with or…
An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative).
- Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.
Archaic An act of entering into a contract or agreement; specifically, a contract of marriage; a contracting; also (obsolete), a betrothal.
Biology, Medicine, Natural sciences, Sciences The process of contracting or becoming infected with a disease.
- the contraction of malaria
- Railway workers were therefore a perfect subject for research, given the varied roles they undertook. If infection was greatest among the non-public-facing staff, it would suggest – given most worked outside – that contraction was caused by something found in the "atmosphere at large". If affliction was higher among the indoor and public-facing staff, it would suggest that human contact was the cause. And it was the latter point that was proven.2020 April 8, David Turner, “How Railway Staff were Conduits and Victims of a Pandemic”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 32:
› Senses relating to pulling together or shortening. › A (sometimes reversible) contracting or…
Biology, Medicine, Natural sciences, Sciences A shortening of a muscle during its use; specifically, a strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
- Though occasionally a “flatliner” can be revived with a defib, it is most commonly used to change the uncoordinated contractions of the heart (fibrillation) into a normal sinus rhythm—that is, to defibrillate the heart.2011, Laurence Street, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering Technology, second edition (hardcover), Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 125:
Economics, Sciences A period of economic decline or negative growth.
- The country’s economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme (a word) are reduced or lost, such that it becomes a bound morpheme (a clitic) that attaches phonologically to an adjacent word.
- In the English words didn’t, that’s, and wanna, the endings -n’t, -’s, and -a arose by contraction.
Communications, Journalism, Literature, Media, Orthography, Publishing, Writing In the English language: a shortened form of a word, often with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe or a diacritical mark.
- Don’t is a contraction of do not; and ’til is a contraction of until.
- You would not use "it's" in this case / As a possessive (No, no, no) / It's a contraction (Yeah, ye)2014, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Word Crimes”:
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonology, Prosody, Sciences Synonym of syncope (“the elision or loss of a sound from the interior of a word, especially of a vowel sound with loss of a syllable”).
The preimage of the given ideal under the given homomorphism.
Of an ideal in the codomain of a ring homomorphism
Broadly A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the purpose of brevity.
› Senses relating to pulling together or shortening.
- Derived terms
30 terms
aftercontraction, anticontraction, Braxton Hicks contraction, cocontraction, concentric contraction, contractional, contractionary, contractionism, contractionist, contractionless, decontraction, eccentric contraction, edge contraction, haustral contraction, hypercontraction, intercontraction, isometric contraction, isotonic contraction, lanthanide contraction, length contraction, Lorentz contraction, Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction, mutated contraction, noncontraction, overcontraction, precontraction, recontraction, supercontraction, vasocontraction, wanna contraction- Related terms
25 terms
contract, contractable, contractant, contractation, contracted, contractedly, contractedness, contractee, contractible, contractile, contractility, contracting, contractive, contractly, contractor, contractual, contractually, contractural, contracture, contractured, extract, retract, tractile, traction, omission