English Dictionary

contraction

/kɒnˈtɹæk.ʃən/

noun

A reversible reduction in size. / (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth. / (biology) A shortening of a muscle during its use.

The contraction of the muscles caused him to feel pain.

意味（1）

A reversible reduction in size.

意味（2）

(economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.

The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.

意味（3）

(biology) A shortening of a muscle during its use.

意味（4）

(medicine) A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.

意味（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.

意味（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; and 'til is a contraction of until.

意味（7）

A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the purpose of brevity.

意味（8）

(medicine) The process of contracting a disease.

the contraction of malaria

意味（9）

(phonetics) Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word.

意味（10）

The acquisition of something, generally negative.

Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.

意味（11）

(medicine) A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together.