contraction
n. countablen. a shorter form of a word or group of words, made by leaving out letters. You use contractions in speaking and informal writing to sound more natural.
n. a shortened form of a word or phrase, typically formed by omitting sounds or letters and often marked by an apostrophe. Common in spoken English and informal writing; generally avoided in formal academic prose.
Don't use contractions in formal essays.
She used contractions like 'can't' and 'won't' to make her speech sound more relaxed.
The author's heavy use of contractions gives the narrative a conversational tone, bridging the gap between formal storytelling and casual dialogue.
PIE word *ḱóm From Late Middle English contraccioun, contraxion (“spasm, contraction; constriction, shrinking; act of pressing together”), from Old French contraction (modern French contraction), from Latin contractiō(n) (“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”), from contrahō (“to draw things together, assemble, collect, gather; to enter into a contract”) + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results). Contrahō is derived from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of objects) + trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)). By surface analysis, contract + -ion (suffix denoting actions or processes, or their results).