• Contraction

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈkÉ’n.tɹæk.ʃən/ stressed; IPA: /kÉ™nˈtræk.ʃən/ unstressed
    • US IPA: /kÉ™nˈtɹæk.ʃən/
    • Rhymes: -ækʃən

    Origin

    From Old French contraction, from Latin contractiō.

    Full definition of contraction

    Noun

    contraction

    (plural contractions)
    1. A reversible reduction in size.
    2. (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.
    3. (biology) A shortening of a muscle when it is used.
    4. (medicine) A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
    5. (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.
    6. (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."
    7. (medicine) Contracting a disease.The contraction of AIDS from toilet seats is extremely rare.
    8. (phonetics) Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word.
    9. The acquisition of something, generally negative.Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.
    10. (medicine) A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together.
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