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contra|band /kɒ ntrəbænd/ N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] Contraband refers to goods that are taken into or out of a country illegally. □  Most of the city markets were flooded with contraband goods.

contra|cep|tion /kɒ ntrəse pʃ ^ə n/ N‑UNCOUNT Contraception refers to methods of preventing pregnancy. □  Use a reliable method of contraception.

contra|cep|tive /kɒ ntrəse pt I v/ (contraceptives )

1 ADJ [ADJ n] A contraceptive method or device is a method or a device which a woman uses to prevent herself from becoming pregnant. □  It was at that time she started taking the contraceptive pill.

2 N‑COUNT A contraceptive is a device or drug that prevents a woman from becoming pregnant. □  …oral contraceptives.

con|tract ◆◆◇ (contracts , contracting , contracted ) The noun is pronounced /kɒ ntrækt/. The verb is pronounced /kəntræ kt/. 1 N‑COUNT A contract is a legal agreement, usually between two companies or between an employer and employee, which involves doing work for a stated sum of money. □  The company won a prestigious contract for work on Europe's tallest building. □  He was given a seven-year contract with an annual salary of $150,000.

2 VERB If you contract with someone to do something, you legally agree to do it for them or for them to do it for you. [FORMAL ] □ [V + with ] You can contract with us to deliver your cargo. □ [V to-inf] The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has already contracted to lease part of its collection to a museum in Japan.

3 VERB When something contracts or when something contracts it, it becomes smaller or shorter. □ [V ] Blood is only expelled from the heart when it contracts. □ [V n] New research shows that an excess of meat and salt can contract muscles. ●  con|trac|tion /kəntræ kʃ ^ə n/ (contractions ) N‑VAR □ [+ of ] …the contraction and expansion of blood vessels. □  Foods and fluids are mixed in the stomach by its muscular contractions.

4 VERB When something such as an economy or market contracts , it becomes smaller. □ [V ] The manufacturing economy contracted in October for the sixth consecutive month.

5 VERB [no cont] If you contract a serious illness, you become ill with it. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] He contracted the disease from a blood transfusion. □ [V -ed] Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer contracted by women.

6 VERB If you contract a marriage, alliance, or other relationship with someone, you arrange to have that relationship with them. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] She contracted a formal marriage to a British ex-serviceman.

7 N‑COUNT If there is a contract on a person or on their life, someone has made an arrangement to have them killed. [INFORMAL ] □ [+ on ] The convictions resulted in the local crime bosses putting a contract on him.

8 PHRASE If you are under contract to someone, you have signed a contract agreeing to work for them, and for no-one else, during a fixed period of time. □  By now she was under contract to MGM and on her way to Hollywood.

▸  contract out

1 PHRASAL VERB If a company contracts out work, they employ other companies to do it. [BUSINESS ] □ [V P n + to ] Firms can contract out work to one another. □ [V P n] When Barclays Bank contracted out its cleaning, the new company was cheaper. □ [V n P ] …the trend of contracting services out rather than performing them in-house. [Also V n P + to , V P ]