contentment(kuhn TENT mint) n.a feeling of being satisfied; a feeling of
well-being
- Dinner having been finished, Gerald felt total contentment.
- Her life being one of complete contentment,Susan had no desire for any-
thing she did not already have.
context(KON tekst) n.1. the spoken or written information immediately
around a certain word or passage that helps to determine its meaning; 2. the entire-
ty of the situation in which an event occurs - Quoting her out of context,one might believe that Margaret had found a
dress to be particularly lovely, while what she had actually said was “I
don’t find that dress to be particularly lovely.” - To appreciate the significance of the latest explorations of Mars, we must
look at it in the contextof our exploration of the entire solar system.
[-ual adj., -ually adv.]
contract (KON trakt for n. and sometimes v.,kuhn TRAKT for most v.) n. 1. an
agreement between two or more parties to do something in exchange for some-
thing else; 2. a formal agreement of marriage or engagement; 3. the document
detailing the terms of the agreement —vt.1. to arrange or agree to do something; 2.
to get or incur (a debt, an illness, etc.); 3. to get or make smaller; to shorten; to nar-
row; to shrink; 4. to restrict - I just made a contractwith a flooring company to replace that seedy look-
ing living-room floor. - Wedding contractsare really obsolete in the twenty-first century.
- Keep a copy of the contractin your desk or filing cabinet.
- Lynn’s going to contractfor new kitchen cabinets.
- Olga seems to have contracteda nasty case of the flu.
- It would be good to contractthe size of your debt.
- Regulations have contractedthe number of people allowed to be in airline
waiting rooms.
[Syn. shrink, deflate, reduce]
contrary (KON tre ree) adj.1. opposed to; against; 2. opposite in nature, order,
direction, etc.; completely different; 3. posturing oneself to consistently disagree;
perverse —n.the opposite - Democrats and Republicans have contrarypositions on many issues.
- Contraryto popular opinion, Calbert can dance quite well.
- Carla is disagreeing with everything just to be contrary.
- George often says one thing and then does the contrary.
contrast(KON trast for n.,kun TRAST for v.) vt.to compare so as to notice or
point out the differences; to make a side-by-side comparison —vi.to show differ-
ences when compared —n.1. a difference, especially a striking one, between two
things; 2. showing a striking difference, in color or tone, between different parts of
a painting, photograph, or video image - It’s easy to contrastHal’s easygoing mannerisms with R. Lee’s drill-sergeant
demeanor. - Contrastthe appearance of a 10-karat-yellow gold ring to a 14-karat one,
and the difference is immediately obvious.
64 Essential Vocabulary