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contract - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'contract' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Contract [ a.]
- Contracted; as, a contract verb.
- Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
2 . Contract [ n.]
- To draw together or nearer; to reduce to a less compass; to shorten, narrow, or lessen; as, to contract one's sphere of action.
- To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
- To bring on; to incur; to acquire; as, to contract a habit; to contract a debt; to contract a disease.
- To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for.
- To betroth; to affiance.
- To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
- The agreement of two or more persons, upon a sufficient consideration or cause, to do, or to abstain from doing, some act; an agreement in which a party undertakes to do, or not to do, a particular thing; a formal bargain; a compact; an interchange of legal rights.
- A formal writing which contains the agreement of parties, with the terms and conditions, and which serves as a proof of the obligation.
- The act of formally betrothing a man and woman.
3 . Contract [ v. i.]
- To be drawn together so as to be diminished in size or extent; to shrink; to be reduced in compass or in duration; as, iron contracts in cooling; a rope contracts when wet.
- To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain; as, to contract for carrying the mail.

Meaning of 'contract' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . contract [ v]
Meaning (1):
- compress or concentrate
Example in sentence:
  • Congress condensed the three-year plan into a six-month plan
Meaning (2):
- make smaller
Example in sentence:
  • He decreased his staff;
  • reduce an image;
  • The heat contracted the woollen garment
Meaning (3):
- be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness
Example in sentence:
  • He got AIDS;
  • She came down with pneumonia;
  • She took a chill
Meaning (4):
- squeeze or press together
Example in sentence:
  • she compressed her lips;
  • the spasm contracted the muscle
Meaning (5):
- become smaller or draw together
Example in sentence:
  • The balloon shrank;
  • The fabric shrank
Meaning (6):
- reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
Example in sentence:
  • The manuscript must be shortened
Meaning (7):
- make or become more narrow or restricted
Example in sentence:
  • The road narrowed;
  • The selection was narrowed
Meaning (8):
- engage by written agreement
Example in sentence:
  • They signed two new pitchers for the next season

Nearby Words:

con con- conacre conarium conation conative conatus concamerate concameration concatenate

See 'contract' also in:

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