contract

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contract is one of the 1000 most common headwords.
continue - contract - control
contract is on the Academic Word List.

Pronunciation[change]

noun
verb

Noun[change]

Singular
contract

Plural
contracts

  1. (countable) A contract is a legal agreement to trade goods, services and/or property. It's usually written down.
    If you would just sign this contract, the car will be yours.
    In Japan, most worker’s employment contracts last until the age of sixty.
    My father’s employment contract is for forty years.
    You must look over the contract before you sign it.

Verb[change]

Plain form
contract

Third-person singular
contracts

Past tense
contracted

Past participle
contracted

Present participle
contracting

  1. (intransitive) If something contracts, it gets smaller.
    As the wood dries out, it contracts.
  2. (transitive) If you contract someone to do a job, you enter into a contract with them.
    We've contracted a cleaning company to take care of the office.
    When there's too much work, there are a number of small firms to which we will contract it out.
  3. (transitive) If you contract a disease, you become sick with it.
    It's hard to understand why people risk contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
    He contracted the flu.

Related words[change]