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contraction

cont·rac·tion

UK/kənˈtɹækʃn̩/ US/kɒn-/ uncommon archaic obsolete rare

noun

1.
2.

the process or result of becoming smaller or pressed together

  • “the contraction of a gas on cooling”
Synonyms
3.

a word formed from two or more words by omitting or combining some sounds

  • “won”
  • “is a contraction of”
  • “";”
  • “clock”
  • “of the clock”
4.

the act of decreasing (something) in size or volume or quantity or scope

Antonyms

Origin

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).

Phrases

  • Braxton Hicks contraction
  • concentric contraction
  • eccentric contraction
  • edge contraction
  • haustral contraction
  • isometric contraction
  • isotonic contraction
  • lanthanide contraction

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.