What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Contraction vs Short - What's the difference?

contraction | short |

As a noun contraction

is a reversible reduction in size.

As a proper noun short is

.

contraction

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A reversible reduction in size.
  • (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.
  • The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.
  • (biology) A shortening of a muscle when it is used.
  • (medicine) A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
  • (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.
  • In English ''didn't'', ''that's'', and ''wanna'', the endings ''-n't'', ''-'s'', and ''-a'' arose by contraction .
  • (English orthography) A word with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe, usually resulting from the above process.
  • "Don't" is a contraction of "do not."
  • (medicine) Contracting a disease.
  • The contraction of AIDS from toilet seats is extremely rare.
  • (phonetics) Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word.
  • The acquisition of something, generally negative.
  • Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.
  • (medicine) A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together.
  • Antonyms

    * expansion * dilatation

    Derived terms

    * contractional * contractionary * hypercontraction * supercontraction

    See also

    * omission * *

    short

    English

    (wikipedia short)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
  • (of a person) Of comparatively little height.
  • Having little duration; opposite of long.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=Anna Lena Phillips , title=Sneaky Silk Moths , volume=100, issue=2, page=172 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.}}
    Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it's been at least twenty minutes long.
  • Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
  • “Phone” is short''' for “telephone” and "asap" '''short for "as soon as possible".
  • (cricket, Of a ball) that bounced relatively far from the batsman.
  • (cricket, Of a fielder or fielding position) that is relatively close to the batsman.
  • Brittle (of pastry, and some metals); see also shortening, shortcrust.
  • Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.
  • He gave a short answer to the question.
  • Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
  • a short supply of provisions
  • Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking.
  • to be short of money
    The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.
  • Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
  • an account which is short of the truth
  • * Landor
  • Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war.
  • (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
  • * Spenser
  • Marinell was sore offended / That his departure thence should be so short .
  • * Clarendon
  • He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day.
  • In a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
  • I'm short General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.

    Usage notes

    * (having a small distance between ends or edges) (term) is often used in the positive vertical dimension and used as is (shallow) in the negative vertical dimension; in the horizontal dimension (narrow) is more commonly used.

    Synonyms

    * (having a small distance between ends or edges) low, narrow, slim, shallow * little, pint-sized, petite, titchy (slang) * (having little duration) brief, concise * an abbreviation of, a short form of

    Antonyms

    * (having a small distance between ends or edges) tall, high, wide, broad, deep, long * tall * (having little duration) long * long

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Abruptly, curtly, briefly.
  • They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.
    He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.
    The boss got a message and cut the meeting short .
  • Unawares.
  • The recent developments at work caught them short .
  • Without achieving a goal or requirement.
  • His speech fell short of what was expected.
  • (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
  • (finance) With a negative ownership position.
  • We went short most finance companies in July.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A short circuit.
  • A short film.
  • * 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift [http://www.avclub.com/articles/ice-age-continental-drift,82358/]
  • Preceded by a Simpsons short shot in 3-D—perhaps the only thing more superfluous than a fourth Ice Age movie—Ice Age: Continental Drift finds a retinue of vaguely contemporaneous animals coping with life in the post-Pangaea age.
  • (Used to indicate a short-length version of a size)
  • 38 short suits fit me right off the rack.
    Do you have that size in a short .
  • (baseball) A shortstop.
  • Jones smashes a grounder between third and short .
  • (finance) A short seller.
  • The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.
  • (finance) A short sale.
  • He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
  • A summary account.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The short and the long is, our play is preferred.
  • (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
  • * H. Sweet
  • If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and longs in English, as in "bit" and "beat", "not" and "naught", we find that the short vowels are generally wide, the long narrow, besides being generally diphthongic as well.
  • (label) An shorter than normal integers; usually two bytes long.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause a in (something).
  • Of an electrical circuit, to .
  • To shortchange.
  • To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.
  • This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.
  • (business) To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short .
  • (obsolete) To shorten.
  • Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Deficient in.
  • We are short a few men on the second shift.
    He's short common sense.
  • (finance) Having a negative position in.
  • I don't want to be short the market going into the weekend.

    Synonyms

    * (deficient in) lacking, short on

    Derived terms

    * cold short * for short * hot short * in short * short-arse * short back and sides * short of * short-change, shortchange * shorten * short end of the stick * shortie * shortfall * shorthand * short strokes * shorty * the long and short

    Statistics

    *