contracture

English

Etymology

From French contracture, from Latin contractura.

Noun

contracture (countable and uncountable, plural contractures)

1. (medicine) An abnormal, sometimes permanent, contraction of a muscle or skin; a deformity so caused.
   • 2010, Scott W. Wolfe, William C. Pederson, Robert N. Hotchkiss, Green's Operative Hand Surgery, Sixth Edition, page 2099:

     Even if in the initial phase of acute hand burn injury all treatment measures have been executed properly, postburn deformities still occur and are the most common cause of skin contracture in the hand. Postburn scarring and contractures affect the function as well as the aesthetic appearance of the hand and remain the most frustrating late complication of a hand burn.

   • 2022, Lindsey Fitzharris, The Facemaker, page 149:

     In general, the technique resulted in faster healing, less car formation, and less contracture than pinch grafting.

Derived terms

• acrocontracture
• anticontracture
• contractural
• contractured
• Dupuytren's contracture
• hypercontracture
• lethal congenital contracture syndrome

 

Translations

abnormal contraction of a muscle

• French: contracture (fr) f
• German: Kontraktur (de) f
• Italian: contrattura (it) f
• Polish: przykurcz (pl) m
• Portuguese: contratura f
• Romanian: contracție (ro) f, cotractare
• Spanish: contractura (es) f

Anagrams

• Turcocretan

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

contracture f (plural contractures)

1. contracture

Further reading

• “contracture”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Participle

contractūre

1. vocative masculine singular of contractūrus