Contraction
English Meaning
The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendon; the contraction produced by cold.
- The act of contracting or the state of being contracted.
- A word, as won't from will not, or phrase, as o'clock from of the clock, formed by omitting or combining some of the sounds of a longer phrase.
- The formation of such a word.
- Physiology The shortening and thickening of functioning muscle or muscle fiber.
- A period of decreased business activity.