ALL meanings of contraction
con·trac·tion
C c - countable noun contraction When a woman who is about to give birth has contractions, she experiences a very strong, painful tightening of the muscles of her womb. 3
- countable noun contraction A contraction is a shortened form of a word or words. 3
- noun contraction an instance of contracting or the state of being contracted 3
- noun contraction any normal shortening or tensing of an organ or part, esp of a muscle, e.g. during childbirth 3
- noun contraction any abnormal tightening or shrinking of an organ or part 3
- noun contraction a shortening of a word or group of words, often marked in written English by an apostrophe 3
- noun contraction a contracting or being contracted 3
- noun contraction the shortening and thickening of a muscle fiber or a muscle in action, esp. of the uterus during labor 3
- noun contraction the shortening of a word or phrase by the omission of one or more sounds or letters 3
- noun contraction a word form resulting from this (Ex.: she's for she is, aren't for are not) 3
- noun contraction a period of decrease in business activity 3
- abbreviation Definition of CONTRACTION in Technology reduction 3
- noun contraction Contractions such as isn't, couldn't, can't, weren't, he'll, they're occur chiefly, although not exclusively, in informal speech and writing. They are common in personal letters, business letters, journalism, and fiction; they are rare in scientific and scholarly writing. Contractions occur in formal writing mainly as representations of speech. 1
- noun contraction The process of becoming smaller. 1
- noun Technical meaning of contraction (Or "contraction") The process of transforming an expression according to certain reduction rules. The most important forms are beta reduction (application of a lambda abstraction to one or more argument expressions) and delta reduction (application of a mathematical function to the required number of arguments). An evaluation strategy (or reduction strategy), determines which part of an expression (which redex) to reduce first. There are many such strategies. See graph reduction, string reduction, normal order reduction, applicative order reduction, parallel reduction, alpha conversion, beta conversion, delta conversion, eta conversion. 1
- noun contraction an act or instance of contracting. 1
- noun contraction the quality or state of being contracted. 1
- noun contraction a shortened form of a word or group of words, with the omitted letters often replaced in written English by an apostrophe, as e'er for ever, isn't for is not, dep't for department. 1
- noun contraction Physiology. the change in a muscle by which it becomes thickened and shortened. 1
- noun contraction a restriction or withdrawal, as of currency or of funds available as call money. 1
- noun contraction a decrease in economic and industrial activity (opposed to expansion). 1
- noun contraction metal, etc.: shrinking 1
- noun contraction word: contracted form 1
- noun contraction childbirth: muscle spasm 1
- noun contraction A reversible reduction in size. 0
- noun contraction (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth. 0
- noun contraction (biology) A shortening of a muscle when it is used. 0
- noun contraction (medicine) A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth. 0
- noun contraction (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. 0
- noun contraction (English orthography) A word with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe, usually resulting from the above process. 0
- noun contraction (medicine) Contracting a disease. 0
- noun contraction (phonetics) Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word. 0
- noun contraction The acquisition of something, generally negative. 0
- noun contraction (medicine) A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together. 0