protracted
/pɹəˈtɹæk.tɪd/US/pɹoʊˈtɹæk.tɪd/
protracted is the simple past and past participle of protract.
Meaning of protract
Verb
protract (third-person singular simple present protracts, present participle protracting, simple past and past participle protracted)
- To draw out; to extend, especially in duration.
- Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock;
Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Synonyms:
- prolong
- Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock;
- To use a protractor.
- To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of, with scale and protractor; to plot.
- This is a synopsis of our marches, which, protracted on Burckhardt’s map, gives an error of ten miles.1856, Richard Francis Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah, London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, Volume 3, Chapter 25, page 147, footnote
- To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer.
- to protract a decision or duty
- To extend; to protrude.
- A cat can protract and retract its claws.
Adjective
protracted (comparative more protracted, superlative most protracted)
- Lasting for a long time or longer than expected or usual.
- a protracted and bitter dispute
- ... inheritance of protracted misery ...1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 5, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- long-drawn-out, abiding, chronic, continuate, diuturnal, durable, standing, durative, endurable, enduring
Synonyms of protracted
11 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of protracted
| comparative | more protracted |
|---|---|
| superlative | most protracted |
Words formed from protracted
Questions about protracted
- What does protracted mean?
- Protracted means lasting for a long time or longer than expected or usual.
- What is protracted the simple past and past participle of?
- Protracted is the simple past and past participle of protract.
- What part of speech is protracted?
- Protracted is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce protracted?
- Protracted is pronounced /pɹəˈtɹæk.tɪd/ (UK).
Words near protracted in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: protracted (page history and authors); protract (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-protracted.wav.
Cite this entry: “protracted.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/protracted. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
