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# contract

noun (a contract, contracts); verb (contract, contracts, contracted, contracting)

«contract» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. noun: A contract is a written or spoken agreement between people or companies that the law can make them keep. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#m1)
2. verb: To contract means to get smaller or shorter, like a muscle or metal when it cools. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#m2)
3. verb: To contract an illness means to catch it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#m3)
4. verb (formal): To contract someone means to make an agreement for them to do a job. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#m4)

### In the lessons

In science, things contract when they cool and expand when they heat; muscles contract to move bones. In everyday life adults sign contracts for phones, jobs and houses. In stories a contract can be a promise that traps a character. Phrases: sign a contract, break a contract, under contract, contract a disease, contract and expand.

### Examples

- My dad signed a contract for the new phone. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x1)
- Metal rails contract on cold nights. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x2)
- When you lift your arm, the muscle contracts. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x3)
- The footballer is under contract with the club for three more seasons. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x4)
- Sailors once contracted scurvy from a lack of fruit. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x5)
- The council contracted a firm to fix the school roof. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x6)
- "Do not" contracts to "don't". [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x7)
- If you break the contract, you may have to pay money. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x8)
- “Well, then,” said the Marionette, “let us make a contract.” [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/#x9)

### Note

The noun is stressed on the first part (CON-tract); the verb is usually stressed on the second (con-TRACT). Countable noun: a contract, two contracts. Opposite of contract (get smaller) is expand. A contraction is a short form like "can't". In maths problems a contract often states a price or a time to finish a job.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «contract» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contract/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«contract» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/contract.html) on Mova free.