contract

Fetched 2026-10-28 (live).

Synonyms: contrast, contact, confract, contrary, construct, counteract, contradict, constrict, contrist, contra, contrail

Antonyms: contrast, contact, confract, contrary, construct, counteract, contradict, constrict, contrist, contra, contrail

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

1. An agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement.
   • sign a contract
   • write up a contract
   • read a contract
   • countersign a contract
   • legally-binding contract
   • unwritten contract
   • Marriage is a contract.
   • hired on a short-term contract
   • He worked a six-month contract on an oil rig.
2. A period of work agreed to under a temporary contract.
   • He worked a six-month contract on an oil rig.
3. An agreement which the law will enforce in some way. A legally binding contract must contain at least one promise, i.e., a commitment or offer, by an offeror to and accepted by an offeree to do something in the future. A contract is thus executory rather than executed.
4. The document containing such an agreement.
5. A part of legal studies dealing with laws and jurisdiction related to contracts.
6. An order, usually given to a hired assassin, to kill someone.
   • The mafia boss put a contract out on the man who betrayed him.
7. The declarer's undertaking to win the number of tricks bid with a stated suit as trump.

Adjective

1. Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
2. Not abstract; concrete.

Verb

1. To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen.
   • The snail’s body contracted into its shell.
   • to contract one’s sphere of action
   • Private property investment expands while protections for lower-income residents contract.
2. To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
   • The word “cannot” is often contracted into “can’t”.
3. To make an agreement or contract; to covenant.
   • The company contracted with the council to build 200 new houses.
4. To enter into a contract with (someone or something).
   • We have just contracted new pest control services.
5. To enter into (an agreement) with mutual obligations; to make (an arrangement).
6. To bring on; to incur; to acquire.
   • She contracted the habit of smoking in her teens.
   • to contract a debt
7. To gain or acquire (an illness).
8. To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
9. To betroth; to affiance.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.