countable medicala movement of a muscle in which it becomes tighter, especially the strong painful movement of the muscles of a woman’s womb that help to push a baby out during birth
Synonyms and related words
Pregnancy and having a baby
abort
the afterbirth
amniocentesis
2
uncountable the process of becoming smaller
the contraction of coolingmetal
There is likely to be further contraction of the dot.com sector as more firms go bankrupt.
Synonyms and related words
To become smaller
shrink
contract
compact
3
countable linguisticsa word made by leaving out a letter or letters of a word or words. For example ‘can’t’ is a contraction of the word ‘cannot’.
Synonyms and related words
Types of word
antonym
argot
back formation
contraction
noun
US /kənˈtrækʃ(ə)n/
Word Forms
singular
contraction
plural
contractions
DEFINITIONS3
1
uncountable the process of becoming smaller
the contraction of coolingmetal
There is likely to be further contraction of the dot-comsector as more firms go bankrupt.
Synonyms and related words
To become smaller
shrink
contract
compact
2
countable medicala movement of a muscle in which it becomes tighter, especially the strong painful movement of the muscles of a woman’s womb that help to push a baby out during birth
Synonyms and related words
Pregnancy and having a baby
abort
the afterbirth
amniocentesis
3
countable linguisticsa word made by leaving out a letter or letters of a word or words. For example “can’t” is a contraction of the word “cannot.”