3 meanings
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1 —as in:
legal contract
Definition
an agreement - typically written and enforceable by law- She signed the contract.
contract = a written agreement that is enforceable by law
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- A lot of people get into trouble by signing contracts they don't understand.
- In rare instances, a consumer can cancel a signed contract during a "cooling off" period, but this is limited to a situation where a door-to-door salesperson dropped in uninvited. In that instance, the "cooling off" period lasts three days.
- Time presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman it is of the essence of the contract.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- My contract provides I be supplied with all my firewood.Arthur Miller -- The Crucible
- I thought she was going to spit in it, which was the only reason anybody in Maycomb held out his hand: it was a time-honored method of sealing oral contracts.Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- In 1961, a Fairbanks company, Yutan Construction, won a contract from the new state of Alaska (statehood having been granted just two years earlier) to upgrade the trail, building it into a road on which trucks could haul ore from the mine year-round.Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild
- All our contracts are oral, but we deliver what we promise.V.S. Naipaul -- A Bend in the River
- Couldn't sign a contract because I was underage, and my momma, your grandma, wouldn't sign for me.Robert Lipsyte -- The Contender
- according to the terms of the contractJames Joyce -- Dubliners
contracts = written agreements that are enforceable by law
contract = agreement
contract = formal legal agreement
contracts = agreements
contract = formal legal agreement
contracts = agreements
contract = a written agreement that is enforceable by law
contract = formally written agreement
2 —as in:
contract the disease
Definition
to get — especially in reference to a disease- She contracted an STD (sexually transmitted disease).
contracted = acquired (gotten; or picked up)
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- She contracted AIDS by sharing needles.
- ...the habits contracted at your age are generally indelible... It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.George Washington (in a letter to his nephew)
- Here is a secret about my family: My sister contracted the deliria a several months before her scheduled procedure.Lauren Oliver -- Delirium
- I contracted pleural pneumonia, in that day a killing disease.John Steinbeck -- East of Eden
- We had to sit so close to other people there wasn't room to breathe, if you even wanted to, being in the position to contract every kind of a germ there was.Barbara Kingsolver -- The Poisonwood Bible
- Besides that, our potatoes have contracted such strange diseases that one out of every two buckets of pommes de terre winds up in the garbage.Anne Frank -- The Diary of a Young Girl
- It's not his fault I've changed—seen the light or contracted the deliria, depending on who you ask.Lauren Oliver -- Delirium
- If you fear that you or someone you know may have contracted deliria, please call the emergency line toll-free at 1-800-PREVENT to discuss immediate intake and treatment.Lauren Oliver -- Delirium
- In the decades before the development of the cure, the disease had become so virulent and widespread it was extraordinarily rare for a person to reach adulthood without having contracted a significant case of amor deliria nervosa.Lauren Oliver -- Delirium
contracted = caught or got — especially in reference to a disease
contracted = got (a disease)
contracted = got (became ill with)
contract = to get (of a disease)
contracted = got (a disease)
3 —as in:
the metal contracted
Definition
when something gets shorter or smaller- When it is cold, the bridge contracts and the joints are further apart.
contracts = gets shorter or smaller
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- The muscle is contracted because of the pain.
- an arrhythmic expansion and contraction of my feelings
- Lord Godalming's brows contracted, and he stood up and walked about the room.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- The little brunette contracts her brows when she is thinking; but when she talks they are still.Erich Maria Remarque -- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Little Chuck's face contracted and he said gently, "You mean him, ma'am?"Harper Lee -- To Kill a Mockingbird
- There was a popping sound and a putrid odor, as her pustules contracted and burst open.Henry H. Neff -- The Fiend And The Forge
- It had merely become distasteful; not enough to force a decision; not enough to make him clench his fists; just enough to contract his nostrils.Ayn Rand -- The Fountainhead
- His hands are clasped on top of his head and I can see the muscles in his back contracting from labored breaths.Colleen Hoover -- Hopeless
- His stomach contracted.John Steinbeck -- East of Eden
contracted = pulled tighter or shorter
contracted = pulled toward each other
contracts = pulls tighter (muscles shorten)
contracted = pulled back
contracted = pulled back (got shorter or smaller)
contract = make smaller
contracting = pulling shorter or tighter
contracted = cramped (tightened as the muscles shortened)
Less commonly:
Contract can be used as a verb, as in They contracted to.... When used as a verb, the second syllable is stressed.
A grammatical sense of the word describes can`t as a contraction of can not. Other specialized usages include contract murder and contract bridge.