Word.ws English Dictionary

traction

/ˈtɹæk.ʃən/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈtɹak.ʃən/

traction noun: the act of pulling something along a surface using motive power.

Noun

traction (usually uncountable, plural tractions)

  1. (usually) The act of pulling something along a surface using motive power.
    • Horse traction was used for all but 23 years of the tramway's life.1960 January, Iain D. O. Frew, “The Brora Colliery Tramway”, in Railway Magazine, page 57
  2. (usually) The condition of being so pulled.
  3. (usually) Grip.
  4. (usually) The pulling power of an engine or animal.
  5. (usually) The adhesive friction of a wheel etc on a surface.
  6. (usually, get or have) Progress in or momentum toward achieving a goal, especially in gaining support, recognition, or popularity.
    • I could not get any traction in trying to push through the legislation.
    1. (usually, get or have) The extent of adoption of a new product or service, typically measured in number of customers or level of revenue achieved.
    2. (usually, get or have) Popular support.
    3. (usually, get or have) Scholarly interest and research.
      • Despite this somewhat late start, the field of study has gained great traction globally, and since 2015 has even had its own journal: Linguistic Landscape: An International Journal.2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 2
  7. (usually) A mechanically applied sustained pull, especially to a limb.
  8. (usually) Collectively, the locomotives of a railroad, especially electric locomotives.
  9. (obsolete, usually) A traction engine.
    • ‘Well,’ McCarthy answered, with a broad smile, when Dan stopped the puffing traction before his door[.]1911, ‘Steel Rudd’, The Book of Dan, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, published 1970, page 1

Verb

traction (third-person singular simple present tractions, present participle tractioning, simple past and past participle tractioned)

  1. (transitive) To apply a sustained pull to (a limb, etc.).

traction meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

traction in Hindi

कर्षण, ट्रैक्शन, ट्रैक्शनिंग

traction in Tamil

துரக்கம், இழுப்பு, இழுவை, இழுக்கை, இழு சக்தி

traction in Marathi

कर्षण, ट्रॅक्शनिंग

traction in Urdu

ٹریکشن
More languagesFewer languages
traction in Bengali
ট্র্যাকশন
traction in Telugu
ట్రాక్షన్
traction in Malayalam
പിടിത്തം, പിടി, മുറുക്കിപ്പിടുത്തം, ഘർഷണം
traction in Kannada
ಎಳೆತ, ಸೆಳೆತ, ಕರ್ಷಣ, ಜಗ್ಗಿಕೆ
traction in Punjabi
ਟ੍ਰੈਕਸ਼ਨ
traction in Gujarati
ટ્રેક્શન, કર્ષણ, ટ્રેક્શનિંગ
traction in Odia
ଟ୍ରାକ୍ସନ୍, କର୍ଷଣ, ଟ୍ରାକ୍ସନ
traction in Nepali
कर्षण, ट्रेक्सन, ट्र्याकसन
traction in Indonesian
traksi

Examples of traction in a sentence

  • Drive at a reduced speed when visibility and traction are poor.
  • Consoles continue to gain traction in the video game market.
  • Testers reported the locomotive as very surefooted and said it did not lose traction.

All 40 example sentences with traction

Forms of traction

Noun
pluraltractions
Verb
third-person singular presenttractions
present participletractioning
past participletractioned
pasttractioned

Plural of traction: tractions

Origin of traction

From Medieval Latin tractio, from Latin tractus, perfect passive participle of verb trahere (“pull”), + noun of action suffix -io (genitive -ionis).

Words formed from traction

Phrases with traction

Words that rhyme with traction

20 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about traction

What does traction mean?
Traction means the act of pulling something along a surface using motive power.
What is traction in Hindi?
Traction in Hindi is कर्षण, ट्रैक्शन, ट्रैक्शनिंग. See Traction meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is traction?
Traction can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce traction?
Traction is pronounced /ˈtɹæk.ʃən/ (UK).
What is the plural of traction?
The plural of traction is tractions.

Words near traction in the dictionary

  1. tractellum
  2. tracti
  3. tractile
  4. tractility
  5. tracting
  6. traction
  7. traction alopecia
  8. traction alopecias
  9. traction batteries
  10. traction battery
  11. traction engine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: traction (page history and authors); traction (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); traction (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); traction (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); traction (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); traction (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-traction.wav.

Cite this entry: “traction.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/traction. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.