CONTRACTING Synonyms: 131 Similar and Opposite Words

contracting 1 of 2

noun

as in squeezing

the act or process of reducing the size or volume of something by or as if by pressing the contracting of the time frame for the primaries tends to favor candidates who are already well-known

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

contracting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of contract

as in getting

to become affected with (a disease or disorder) before vaccines were invented, people lived in fear of contracting polio

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in shrinking

to become smaller in size or volume through the drawing together of particles of matter metal contracts at low temperatures

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in compressing

to reduce in size or volume by or as if by pressing parts or members together contract the calf muscles in your legs

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in bargaining

to come to an arrangement as to a course of action the farmer contracted for delivery of the hay by the first of July

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of contracting

Noun

This process takes a customer from initial proposal through contracting, fulfillment, invoicing, and revenue recognition. —

Adrienne Down Coulson, Fortune, 2 June 2026 In April, the agency revealed a multi-year national contracting opportunity to embed AI skills into Registered Apprenticeship programs, including new tracks in roles that directly build, manage, or apply AI tools. —

Shalin Jyotishi, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026 SpaceX was one of nine companies selected in April to compete for SB-AMTI work through an Other Transaction Authority contracting framework. —

Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 30 May 2026 That's our mission now is to help other DIYers learn how to do more on their project, from general contracting all the way through some of the actual construction elements. —

Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 29 May 2026 His office has also pointed to investigations that led to fraud prosecutions and policy changes involving homelessness programs, contracting practices and departmental oversight. —

Teresa Liu, Daily News, 29 May 2026 The process is so slow that a City Council committee held a hearing earlier this month essentially to turn up the heat on administration officials, who offered no explanation for the molasses-like contracting process other than platitudes. —

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 29 May 2026 Eric Richins owned a lucrative contracting business, and Kouri Richins worked as a real estate agent, buying and flipping houses. —

Natalie Morales, CBS News, 24 May 2026 Along with contracting writers, sites often depend on user submissions as well, sometimes generating thousands of content pieces per day. —

Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 May 2026

Verb

With no protective equipment beyond a cheap face mask, the 28-year-old in Bunia, a city at the heart of the outbreak, symbolizes the women in eastern Congo who are almost always the first caregiver, a role that health workers say is putting them at higher risk of contracting Ebola. —

Mark Banchereau, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2026 With no protective equipment beyond a cheap face mask, the 28-year-old in Bunia, a city at the heart of the outbreak, symbolizes the women in eastern Congo who are almost always the first caregiver, a role that health workers say is putting them at higher risk of contracting Ebola. —

ABC News, 3 June 2026 Precious metal timepieces saw the biggest slump, contracting by around a quarter in both metrics. —

Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 2 June 2026 The agency selected Blue Origin and SpaceX to support that effort, contracting each company to design and build lunar landers capable of delivering astronauts to the moon's surface and launching them back to lunar orbit to rendezvous with NASA's Orion spacecraft. —

Josh Dinner, Space.com, 1 June 2026 Recovered patients describe experience Baraka Bulambulu, one of those who recovered, told the Associated Press on Sunday that community members feared contracting an unknown illness from them, keeping their distance while delivering food and medicine. —

Justin Kabumba, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2026 Levenson highlights how the subtext of this attitude was that contracting a highly infectious disease was divine punishment for sin and that the only way to avoid disease was to live a virtuous life. —

Diana Gitig, ArsTechnica, 30 May 2026 To address custody deaths in Los Angeles County jails, Bornman wants to increase staffing and drug searches and look at contracting with outside hospitals and treatment centers for ill and addicted people in jail. —

Steve Scauzillo, Daily News, 29 May 2026 Participants who vacationed more frequently had a lower risk of contracting heart disease and diabetes. —

Frank Holmes, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for contracting

Noun

So scientists use frequency-dependent squeezing to reduce quantum noise.

— Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 22 May 2026
Maenpaa added that the physical act of squeezing creates a sensory anchor.

— Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 7 May 2026