The difference between Contraction and Expansion

When used as nouns, contraction means a reversible reduction in size, whereas expansion means the act or process of expanding.


check bellow for the other definitions of Contraction and Expansion

  1. Contraction as a noun:

    A reversible reduction in size.

  2. Contraction as a noun (economics):

    A period of economic decline or negative growth.

    Examples:

    "The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices."

  3. Contraction as a noun (biology):

    A shortening of a muscle when it is used.

  4. Contraction as a noun (medicine):

    A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.

  5. Contraction as a noun (linguistics):

    A process whereby one or more sounds of a free morpheme (a word) are lost or reduced, such that it becomes a bound morpheme (a clitic) that attaches phonologically to an adjacent word.

    Examples:

    "In English ''didn't'', ''that's'', and ''wanna'', the endings ''-n't'', ''-'s'', and ''-a'' arose by contraction."

  6. Contraction as a noun (English orthography):

    A word with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe, usually resulting from the above process.

    Examples:

    "Don't" is a contraction of "do not."

  7. Contraction as a noun:

    A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the purpose of brevity.

  8. Contraction as a noun (medicine):

    Contracting a disease.

    Examples:

    "The contraction of AIDS from toilet seats is extremely rare."

  9. Contraction as a noun (phonetics):

    Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word.

  10. Contraction as a noun:

    The acquisition of something, generally negative.

    Examples:

    "Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors."

  11. Contraction as a noun (medicine):

    A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together.

  1. Expansion as a noun:

    The act or process of expanding.

    Examples:

    "The expansion of metals and plastics in response to heat is well understood."

  2. Expansion as a noun:

    The fractional change in unit length per unit length per unit temperature change.

  3. Expansion as a noun:

    A new addition.

    Examples:

    "My new office is in the expansion behind the main building."

  4. Expansion as a noun:

    A product to be used with a previous product.

    Examples:

    "This expansion requires the original game board."

  5. Expansion as a noun:

    That which is expanded; expanse; extended surface.

  6. Expansion as a noun (steam engines):

    The operation of steam in a cylinder after its communication with the boiler has been cut off, by which it continues to exert pressure upon the moving piston.

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