contract
pronunciation
How to pronounce contract in British English:
UK 
How to pronounce contract in American English:
US
Word Origin
- contract
- contract: [14] English acquired the word contract in stages, although in all cases the ultimate source was contractus, the past participle of Latin contrahere, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and trahere ‘pull, draw’ (source of English traction and tractor). This meant literally ‘pull together’, but it had a variety of metaphorical senses, including ‘bring about’ and ‘enter into an agreement’, and it was the latter which first passed into English via Old French as a noun meaning ‘mutual agreement’.The arrival of the verb contract did not happen until the 16th century; it developed from an earlier adjective contract, which came again from Old French contract. This introduced a further sense of Latin contrahere; ‘become narrowed, get smaller’.=> distract, retract, traction, tractor
- contract (v.)
- late 14c., "make narrow, draw together;" early 15c. "make an agreement;" from Middle French contracter, from Latin contractus, past participle of contrahere "to draw together, combine, make an agreement" (see contract (n.)). Related: Contracted; contracting.
- contract (n.)
- early 14c., from Old French contract (Modern French contrat), from Latin contractus "a contract, agreement," from past participle of contrahere "to draw together," metaphorically, "to make a bargain," from com- "together" (see com-) + trahere "to draw" (see tract (n.1)). U.S. underworld sense of "arrangement to kill someone" first recorded 1940.
Example
- 1. I nailed downa contract to sell a thousand cars .
- 2. In contrast , the uk economy continued to contract .
- 3. But even before the earthquake , that contract was crumbling .
- 4. Trying to make a business contract ?
- 5. Chamberlain has even been modestly expanding its staff as the bigger firms contract .