different between contraction vs fibrillation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French contraction, from Latin contracti?. Equivalent to contract +? -ion

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k?n?t?æk.??n/, /k?n?t?æk.??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /k?n?t?æk.??n/
• Rhymes: -æk??n

Noun

contraction (countable and uncountable, plural contractions)

1. A reversible reduction in size.
2. (economics) A period of economic decline or negative growth.

   The country's economic contraction was caused by high oil prices.

3. (biology) A shortening of a muscle during its use.
4. (medicine) A strong and often painful shortening of the uterine muscles prior to or during childbirth.
5. (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.

6. (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."

7. A shorthand symbol indicating an omission for the purpose of brevity.
8. (medicine) The process of contracting a disease.
9. (phonetics) Syncope, the loss of sounds from within a word.
10. The acquisition of something, generally negative.

    Our contraction of debt in this quarter has reduced our ability to attract investors.

11. (medicine) A distinct stage of wound healing, wherein the wound edges are gradually pulled together.

Antonyms

• expansion
• dilatation

Derived terms

Related terms

• contract
• contractation
• contractive
• haustral contraction

Translations

See also

• omission
• Category:English contractions
• contraction on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin contractio, contractionem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.t?ak.sj??/

Noun

contraction f (plural contractions)

1. contraction

Related terms

• contracter
• contrat

English

Etymology

From New Latin fibrilla, diminutive of Latin fibra (“fiber”) in reference to the muscle strands of the heart.

Noun

fibrillation (countable and uncountable, plural fibrillations)

1. The rapid, irregular, and unsynchronized contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart.

Derived terms

• atrial fibrillation
• defibrillation
• ventricular fibrillation

Related terms

• fiber
• fibrillate
• defibrillate
• defibrillator

Translations