Contraction

Last updated June 23, 2025

Contraction may refer to:

Linguistics

Contraction (grammar), a shortened word
Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons
Elision, omission of sounds
- Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word
Synalepha, merged syllables
- Synaeresis, combined vowels
- Crasis, merged vowels or diphthongs

Contraction (operator theory), in operator theory, state of a bounded operator between normed vector spaces after suitable scaling
Contraction hierarchies, in applied mathematics, a technique to speed up shortest-path routing
Contraction mapping, a type of function on a metric space
Edge contraction or vertex contraction, graph operations used in graph theory
Tensor contraction, an operation on one or more tensors that arises from the natural pairing of a finite-dimensional vector space and its dual
Interior product, a tensor contraction specifically of a differential form with a vector field
Left contraction and right contraction of multivectors in a geometric algebra, extensions of the inner product
One of the rules of conditional independence, in probability
Contraction (logic), a structural rule in proof theory

Muscle contraction, the physiological condition of a muscle which generates tension (traction) at its origin and insertion
- Uterine contraction, contraction of the uterus, such as during childbirth
Contractility, the intrinsic ability of the heart/myocardium to contract
Wound contraction, a stage in wound healing

Contraction (economics), a general slowdown in economic activity; the opposite of economic expansion
Contraction (physics), change in the volume of matter in response to a change in temperature
Lanthanide contraction, the decrease in size of the ionic radius of lanthanide elements with their growing atomic number
Contracted (film), a 2013 horror thriller film by Eric England and its sequel Contracted: Phase II (2015) which directed by Josh Forbes