Legal Dictionary

contract

Legal Definition of contract

Noun

  1. An agreement between persons which obliges each party to do or not to do a certain thing. Technically, a valid contract requires an offer and an acceptance of that offer, and, in common law countries, consideration.

Related terms


Definition of contract

Etymology

    From Middle English, from Latin contractum, past participle of contrahere ("to bring together, to bring about, to conclude a bargain"), from con- ("with, together") + trahere ("to draw, to pull").

Pronunciation

Noun
  • enPR: kŏn'trăkt
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈkɒntr�kt/, SAMPA: /"kQntr{kt/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈkɑntr�kt/, SAMPA: /"kAntr{kt/
  • Audio (US) [?]
  • Audio (UK) [?]
Verb
  • enPR: kəntrăkt, IPA: /kənˈtr�kt/, SAMPA: /k@n"tr{kt/
  • {{https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/En-us-contract-verb2.ogg|Audio (US)}
  • Audio (UK) [?]

Noun

contract (plural contracts)

  1. 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.
  2. (law) 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.
  3. (law) A part of legal studies dealing with laws and jurisdiction related to contracts.

Hypernyms

  • (agreement that is legally binding): agreement

Derived terms

  • contractual
  • fixed-term contract
  • contract of employment

Verb

to contract (third-person singular simple present contracts, present participle contracting, simple past and past participle contracted)

  1. (transitive) To enter into a contract with.
  2. (transitive) To gain or acquire (an illness).
  3. (intransitive) To draw together or nearer; to shorten, narrow, or lessen.

    The snail's body contracted into its shell.

Synonyms

  • (gain or acquire (an illness)): catch, get
  • (lessen): abate, decrease, lessen, reduce
  • (shorten): shorten, shrink

Antonyms

  • (lessen): increase
  • (shorten): grow, lengthen

References:

  1. Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.



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