Meaning & use
contract
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Meanings
nouncountablelegal
A formal agreement between people or companies, usually written, that the law will enforce.
Grammar: Stress falls on the first syllable for the noun: a CONtract.
Patterns
- a contract with someone
- a contract for something
- a contract to do something
She signed a two-year contract with the club.
The firm won a contract to build the new school.
Under the contract, rent rises each January.
verbintransitive
To become smaller, tighter or shorter, as muscles or materials do.
Grammar: No object, and the stress moves to the second syllable: to conTRACT.
Metal contracts as it cools.
The muscle contracted sharply when the nerve was touched.
The economy contracted for the third quarter in a row.
verbtransitiveformal
To catch an illness or disease.
Grammar: Takes an object and sounds fairly formal: contract malaria.
Patterns
- contract a disease
He contracted a fever while travelling abroad.
Travelers can contract the disease from untreated water.
Several patients contracted the infection in hospital.
verbtransitive or intransitiveformalbusiness
To agree formally, by contract, to do something or to have something done.
Grammar: Often followed by to or with: contract with a supplier.
Patterns
- contract to do something
- contract with someone
- contract something out
The council contracted with a private firm to clean the streets.
They contracted to deliver the goods by June.
Many hospitals contract out their laundry services.
Word forms
| plural | contracts |
|---|---|
| third person singular | contracts |
| past tense | contracted |
| past participle | contracted |
| -ing form | contracting |
Common combinations
- sign a contract
- He signed the contract on Monday.
- breach of contract
- The company sued for breach of contract.
- fixed-term contract
- She works on a fixed-term contract.
- win a contract
- The builders won a contract for the new library.
- contract an illness
- Few people contract the illness now.
- terms of the contract
- Read the terms of the contract carefully.
Synonyms and how they differ
- agreement
- Agreement is broader and can be informal or spoken, while contract suggests binding terms in writing.
- deal
- Deal is informal and covers any arrangement, with less legal weight.
- shrink
- For the verb meaning to get smaller, shrink is everyday and works for cloth, while contract suits muscles, metals and economies.
- catch
- Catch is the everyday word for getting an illness; contract is more formal and used in medical writing.
Opposites
Word family
- contractor noun
- a person or company hired under a contract
- contraction noun
- the process of becoming smaller, or a shortened word form
- contractual adjective
- relating to a contract
- contractile adjective
- able to shorten, as muscle fibers
Commonly confused: contract or contact? contract or contrast?
contract vs contact
Contact means communication or touch; contract is an agreement or the verb meaning to shrink.
contract vs contrast
Contrast means a difference between things, and it has nothing to do with agreements.
Practice
In cold weather, the metal rail will ____ slightly.
Choose one answer.
Metal gets smaller as it cools, which is the meaning of contract. Expand is the opposite, and contact and contrast are different words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “contract”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.