CONTRACTIONS

Scrabble

WWF

C(3) O(1) N(1) T(1) R(1) A(1) C(3) T(1) I(1) O(1) N(1) S(1)

NWL/TWL ✓ Collins ✓ WWF ✓

Definition

noun

A reversible reduction in size.
A period of economic decline or negative growth.
“The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.”
A shortening of a muscle when it is used.
A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
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.”