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Contract vs Compact - What's the difference?

contract | compact | Synonyms |

Compact is a synonym of contract.



In obsolete terms the difference between contract and compact

is that contract is not abstract; concrete while compact is composed or made; with of.

In transitive terms the difference between contract and compact

is that contract is to gain or acquire (an illness) while compact is to make more dense; to compress.

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

    compact

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An agreement or contract.
  • Synonyms
    * agreement, contract, pact, treaty

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Closely packed, i.e. packing much in a small space.
  • * Isaac Newton
  • glass, crystal, gems, and other compact bodies
  • Having all necessary features fitting neatly into a small space.
  • a compact laptop computer
  • (mathematics, uncomparable, of a set in an Euclidean space) Closed and bounded.
  • A set S of real numbers is called compact if every sequence in S has a subsequence that converges to an element again contained in S.
  • (topology, uncomparable, of a set) Such that every open cover of the given set has a finite subcover.
  • Brief; close; pithy; not diffuse; not verbose.
  • a compact discourse
  • (obsolete) Joined or held together; leagued; confederated.
  • * Shakespeare
  • compact with her that's gone
  • * Peacham
  • a pipe of seven reeds, compact with wax together
  • (obsolete) Composed or made; with of .
  • * Milton
  • A wandering fire, / Compact of unctuous vapour.
    Synonyms
    * (closely packed) concentrated, dense, serried, solid, thick, tight
    Derived terms
    * compact car * compact disc * locally compact

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small, slim folding case, often featuring a mirror, powder and a powderpuff; that fits into a woman's purse or handbag, or that slips into ones pocket.
  • A broadsheet newspaper published in the size of a tabloid but keeping its non-sensational style.
  • * 2012 , BBC News: Dundee Courier makes move to compact [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-16576612]:
  • The Dundee Courier has announced the newspaper will be relaunching as a compact later this week. Editor Richard Neville said a "brighter, bolder" paper would appear from Saturday, shrunk from broadsheet to tabloid size.

    See also

    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make more dense; to compress.
  • * '>citation
  • To unite or connect firmly, as in a system.
  • * Bible, Eph. iv. 16
  • The whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth.
    Synonyms
    * (make more dense) compress, condense

    Anagrams

    * English heteronyms ----