Contract

//ˈkɒntɹækt// adj, noun, verb, slang

adj, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 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"

  2. 2
    a variety of bridge in which the bidder receives points toward game only for the number of tricks they bid wordnet
  3. 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. 4
    a binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law wordnet
  5. 5
    The document containing such an agreement.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    (contract bridge) the highest bid becomes the contract setting the number of tricks that the bidder must make wordnet
  2. 7
    A part of legal studies dealing with laws and jurisdiction related to contracts.
  3. 8
    An order, usually given to a hired assassin, to kill someone. informal

    "The mafia boss put a contract out on the man who betrayed him."

  4. 9
    The declarer's undertaking to win the number of tricks bid with a stated suit as trump.
Verb
  1. 1
    To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen. ambitransitive

    "The snail’s body contracted into its shell."

  2. 2
    be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness wordnet
  3. 3
    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”."

  4. 4
    become smaller or draw together wordnet
  5. 5
    To make an agreement or contract; to covenant. intransitive

    "The company contracted with the council to build 200 new houses."

Show 13 more definitions
  1. 6
    reduce in scope while retaining essential elements wordnet
  2. 7
    To enter into a contract with (someone or something). transitive

    "We have just contracted new pest control services."

  3. 8
    make or become more narrow or restricted wordnet
  4. 9
    To enter into (an agreement) with mutual obligations; to make (an arrangement). archaic, transitive

    "We have contracted an inviolable amitie, peace, and league with the aforesaid Queene."

  5. 10
    compress or concentrate wordnet
  6. 11
    To bring on; to incur; to acquire. transitive

    "She contracted the habit of smoking in her teens."

  7. 12
    enter into a contractual arrangement wordnet
  8. 13
    To gain or acquire (an illness). transitive

    "At that time, the city [Christiania, now Oslo] was in the grip of a cholera epidemic, and victims were dying at the rate of 60 a day. Bradshaw contracted the disease, and died on September 6 [1853]."

  9. 14
    cause to be smaller wordnet
  10. 15
    To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.

    "And didſt contract, and purſe thy brow together, / As if thou then hadſt ſhut vp in thy braine, / Some horrible counſell: […]"

  11. 16
    squeeze or press together wordnet
  12. 17
    To betroth; to affiance.

    "The truth is, ſhe and I (long ſince contracted) / Are now ſo ſure that nothing can diſſolve vs: […]"

  13. 18
    engage by written agreement wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Contracted; affianced; betrothed. not-comparable, obsolete

    "But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel"

  2. 2
    Not abstract; concrete. not-comparable, obsolete

    "But now in eche kinde of these, there are certaine nombers named Abſtracte: and other called nombers Contracte."

Synonyms

All synonyms
abridgeagreementcatchcompresscondenseget

Example

More examples

"The aggressive salesman urged me to sign the contract right away."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Old French contract, from Latin contractus (noun), from contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”) [from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”)] + -tus (suffix forming nouns from verbs).

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Middle French contracter, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrahere (“to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain”), from con- (“with, together”) + trahere (“to draw, to pull”). The verb developed after the noun, and originally meant only "draw together"; the sense "make a contract with" developed later.

Related phrases

adhesion contractbreach of contractcontract agentcontract awardingcontract bridgecontract cheatingcontract curvecontract incontract killercontract killingcontract of employmentcontract of sale

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Legal Writing Vocabulary

Essential terms for contracts, agreements, and plain-language legal communication.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.