contracting
v.v. to become smaller or shorter. You also use this when you catch an illness or make a formal legal agreement.
v. to become smaller in size, amount, or degree; to acquire a disease or enter into a formal agreement. Often used in scientific contexts to describe materials reacting to cold.
The metal is contracting because of the cold weather.
After contracting the virus during his travels, he had to stay home for two weeks to recover.
The economy is expected to begin contracting next quarter as high interest rates finally dampen consumer spending and reduce the overall volume of industrial production.
When meaning 'to catch a disease', it is transitive and takes a direct object.
The metal is contracting smallerThe metal is contractingContracting already means becoming smaller; adding the word 'smaller' is redundant.