Englishfor English speakers
contract
Noun
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A contract is a legal agreement to trade goods, services and/or property. It's usually written down.
If you would just sign this contract, the car will be yours.
In Japan, most worker’s employment contracts last until the age of sixty.
My father’s employment contract is for forty years.
You must look over the contract before you sign it.
contract
Verb
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If something contracts, it gets smaller.
As the wood dries out, it contracts.
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If you contract someone to do a job, you enter into a contract with them.
We've contracted a cleaning company to take care of the office.
When there's too much work, there are a number of small firms to which we will contract it out.
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If you contract a disease, you become sick with it.
It's hard to understand why people risk contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
He contracted the flu.
for
Preposition
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shows that something belongs to something else, or has a specific function
This cake is for you.
This is a net for catching fish.
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For is used to show the reason for something
He was angry, for he had never been called such terrible names before.
for
Subordinator
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For introduces a clause with a subject and a to-infinitive
It's not good for you to be too relaxed.
a
Determinative
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A is used when the following word could be any of a certain type.
Compare "A book I saw on the shelf" and "The book I gave you yesterday".
a
Noun
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A is the first letter of the alphabet.
The letter "a" comes before "b".
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In some schools, an A is a very high grade.
Ron got an A on his earth science test.
term
Noun
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A term is a word or group of words, usually one with a special meaning in a particular field or area.
They didn't know the meaning of the technical terms the doctor was using.
What is the definition of this term?
At age 10, she only knew that it was a term of abuse, a swear word.
She spoke in glowing terms about the progress they had made.
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You use "in terms of" to introduce a topic or subject.
Simply spending more money is not useful in terms of getting people back to work.
In terms of both numbers of people and size, California is one of the largest States in America.
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If you talk about something in general/economic/human, etc. terms, you talk about it from that point of view.
The changes are great in dollar terms, but the human cost is too high.
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A term is a period of time.
The President of Mexico is limited to serving a single term of six years.
He faces a maximum prison term of 15 years and $8.5 million in fines
The price may be up and down, but over the long term it will certainly rise.
The period of employment comes to term in three years.
She carried the baby to term.
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A term is one of the times of year when school classes are held, usually September to December and January to April or June, also June to August.
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A term is a number or symbol in a formula.
The equation only worked when we included an extra constant term.
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If you compare money or numbers in real terms, you compare the value on an equal basis.
Today we are paying less for gasoline in real terms than we have at any time since 1918.
Although the absolute number of trucking accidents is up slightly, they are down 10 percent in the decade in real terms .
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If you come to terms with something that is not nice, you accept it.
He hasn't come to terms with the fact that she's not coming back.
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The terms of a contract or purchase are its rules, conditions and limits.
The company has announced generally agreement on a new contract though the exact terms still have to be worked out.
Under the terms of the purchase, we get the house on July 14th.
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If two or more people or groups are on good/equal/bad etc. terms, they have a relationship that is good/equal/bad etc.
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If two or more people or groups are on speaking terms, they are not close but do speak to each other.
term
Verb
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If you term something a particular name or description, you give that name or description to it.
The 1980s have been termed "The Forgotten Decade" by rock fans.
White House Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater termed the GNP growth "moderately healthy".
For lack of a better word, you might term it a police state.