Past tense of contract
regular verb
The past tense of contract is contracted. The past participle is also contracted.
Forms of contract
| Base form (V1) | contract /ˈkɒntɹækt/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | contracted /kənˈtɹæktɪd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | contracted /kənˈtɹæktɪd/ |
| Present participle | contracting |
| Third person singular | contracts /ˈkɒn.tɹækts/ |
Contracted in a sentence
- The snail’s body contracted into its shell.
- The word “cannot” is often contracted into “can’t”.
- From such an education Charles contracted habits of gravity and recollection.From the entry recollection
- They were contracted to shovel test only within the proposed pipeline's right of way.From the entry shovel test
- The department contracted out of that deal ages ago.From the entry contract out of
Meaning of contract
- noun 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.
- noun A period of work agreed to under a temporary contract.
- noun 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.
Questions about the past tense of contract
- What is the past tense of contract?
- The past tense of contract is contracted.
- What is the past participle of contract?
- The past participle of contract is contracted.
- Is contract a regular or irregular verb?
- Contract is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contract (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of contract.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/contract. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.