contraction
noun
Simple meaning
In the English language: a shortened form of a word, often with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe or a diacritical mark.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhntrakshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəntˈɹækʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
orthography
In the English language: a shortened form of a word, often with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe or a diacritical mark.
A (sometimes reversible) contracting or reduction in length, scope, size, or volume; a narrowing, a shortening, a shrinking.
The act of decreasing (something) in size or volume or quantity or scope
linguistics
A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme (a word) are reduced or lost, such that it becomes a bound morpheme (a clitic) that attaches phonologically to an adjacent word.
An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative).
by extension
A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the purpose of brevity.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (orthography) In the English language: a shortened form of a word, often with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe or a diacritical mark.
Used this way, contraction is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use contraction
- “The contraction of a gas on cooling.”noun
- “Won't' is a contraction of `will not.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Painless contractions of the muscles of the uterus that continue throughout pregnancy with increasing frequency.
A shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber).
A shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber).
Irregularity of cardiac rhythm.
A rhythmic tightening in labor of the upper uterine musculature that contracts the size of the uterus and pushes the fetus toward the birth canal.
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What Does It Mean Here?
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Related Learning
Guides that use this word in context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.