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Contract vs Commission - What's the difference?

contract | commission |

In transitive terms the difference between contract and commission

is that contract is to gain or acquire (an illness) while commission is to put into active service; as, commission a ship.

As nouns the difference between contract and commission

is that contract is an agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement while commission is a sending or mission (to do or accomplish something).

As verbs the difference between contract and commission

is that contract is to draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen while commission is to send or officially charge someone or some group to do something.

As an adjective contract

is contracted; affianced; betrothed.

contract

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) contract, from (etyl) contractum, past participle of .

Noun

(en noun)
  • An agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington
  • , title= Keeping the mighty honest , passage=British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.}}
  • (legal) An agreement which the law will enforce in some way. A legally binding contract must contain at least one promise, i.e., a commitment or offer, by an offeror to and accepted by an offeree to do something in the future. A contract is thus executory rather than executed.
  • (legal) A part of legal studies dealing with laws and jurisdiction related to contracts.
  • (informal) An order, usually given to a hired assassin, to kill someone.
  • (bridge) The declarer's undertaking to win the number of tricks bid with a stated suit as trump.
  • Hypernyms
    * (agreement that is legally binding) agreement
    Hyponyms
    * (agreement that is legally binding) bailment
    Derived terms
    * contractual * fixed-term contract * contract of employment

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) Not abstract; concrete.
  • * Robert Recorde, , 1557:
  • But now in eche kinde of these, there are certaine nombers named Ab?tracte'': and other called nombers ''Contracte .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), from (etyl) contracter, from (etyl) contractum, past participle of . the verb developed after the noun, and originally meant only "draw together"; the sense "make a contract with" developed later.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (ambitransitive) To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen.
  • The snail's body contracted into its shell.
    to contract one's sphere of action
  • * Wordsworth
  • Years contracting to a moment.
  • * Dr. H. More
  • In all things desuetude doth contract and narrow our faculties.
  • (grammar) To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.
  • The word "cannot" is often contracted into "can't".
  • To enter into a contract with. (rfex)
  • To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for.
  • * Hakluyt
  • We have contracted an inviolable amity, peace, and league with the aforesaid queen.
  • * Strype
  • Many persons prohibited by law.
  • To make an agreement or contract; to covenant; to agree; to bargain.
  • to contract for carrying the mail
  • To bring on; to incur; to acquire.
  • She contracted the habit of smoking in her teens.
    to contract a debt
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Each from each contract new strength and light.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Such behaviour we contract by having much conversed with persons of high stature.
  • To gain or acquire (an illness).
  • * 1999 , Davidson C. Umeh, Protect Your Life: A Health Handbook for Law Enforcement Professionals (page 69)
  • An officer contracted hepatitis B and died after handling the blood-soaked clothing of a homicide victim
  • To draw together so as to wrinkle; to knit.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou didst contract and purse thy brow.
  • To betroth; to affiance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The truth is, she and I, long since contracted , / Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us.
    Synonyms
    * (lessen) abate, decrease, lessen, reduce * (shorten) shorten, shrink * catch, get
    Antonyms
    * (lessen) increase, expand * (shorten) grow, lengthen

    commission

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sending or mission (to do or accomplish something).
  • It was James Bond's commission to defeat the bad guys.
  • An official charge or authority to do something, often used of military officers.
  • David received his commission after graduating from West Point.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let him see our commission .
  • The thing to be done as agent for another.
  • I have three commissions for the city.
  • A body or group of people, officially tasked with carrying out a particular function.
  • the European Commission; the Electoral Commission; the Federal Communications Commission
    The company's sexual harassment commission made sure that every employee completed the on-line course.
  • * Prescott
  • A commission was at once appointed to examine into the matter.
  • A fee charged by an agent or broker for carrying out a transaction.
  • a reseller's commission
    The real-estate broker charged a four percent commission for their knowledge on bidding for commercial properties; for their intellectual perspective on making a formal offer and the strategy to obtain a mutually satisfying deal with the seller in favour of the buyer .
  • The act of committing (e.g. a crime).
  • the commission , preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism
  • * South
  • Every commission of sin introduces into the soul a certain degree of hardness.

    Synonyms

    * body of officials: committee, government body * fee charged: brokerage

    Derived terms

    * commissioner * European Commission * out of commission

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To send or officially charge someone or some group to do something.
  • James Bond was commissioned with recovering the secret documents.
  • * 2012 , August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal
  • Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Aghanistan, is not the first solider to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.
  • To place an order for (often piece of art); as, commission a portrait.
  • He commissioned a replica of the Mona Lisa for his living room, but the painter gave up after six months.
  • To put into active service; as, commission a ship.
  • The aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1944, during WWII.