contracted

1. 1
   adjective

   Reduced in size as a result of being drawn together or shrunk.

   The contracted tissue around the old scar limited his movement.

   A contracted iris reduces the amount of light reaching the retina.

   Similarshrunken, constricted

   Oppositedilated, relaxed

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of contract.

   He contracted pneumonia during the long voyage home.

   The company contracted an outside firm to handle security.

   Note

   One spelling covers both the past tense (she contracted) and the participle after have (she has contracted). The verb behind it works with or without an object. A muscle simply contracted, but a traveler contracted a fever and a company contracted a firm. Taking an agreement itself as the object, as in contracted an agreement, now sounds archaic. That idea lives on in the "by agreement" adjective.

3. 3
   adjective

   Set up or fixed through a formal contract or mutual agreement.

   The contracted terms specified delivery within thirty days.

   Each contracted supplier was bound to the agreed schedule.

   Similaragreed, stipulated, contractual, binding

   Note

   An all-or-nothing adjective: terms are either contracted or they are not, so this sense never takes more or most. The word does have the forms more contracted and most contracted, but they suit meanings that come in degrees, such as the shrinking sense. Here the adjective usually sits before the thing the agreement fixes: contracted terms, a contracted supplier, contracted work.

4. 4
   adjective

   Incurred or acquired, as with a debt taken on or a disease caught.

   The contracted obligations weighed heavily on the new owner.

   Doctors treated the contracted infection before it could spread.

   Similaracquired

Showing meanings only. Show all 4