contractor

/ˈkɑntræktər/

/ˈkɒntræktə/

Other forms: contractors

A contractor is someone who is hired to build something. As a contractor at a building site, it is highly recommended you keep your hard hat on at all times.

When you think of contractor, you may picture construction sites; however, the word has other meanings as well. Legally, if you sign a contract to perform a specific job then you are what is known as a contractor. When there are not many full-time jobs available for workers, sometimes the only option is to become a freelance contractor, which might mean that you only work part-time or when needed.

Definitions of contractor

1. noun

   someone (a person or firm) who contracts to build things
   types:

   defense contractor

   a contractor concerned with the development and manufacture of systems of defense

   hauler, haulier

   a haulage contractor

   ship-breaker

   a contractor who buys old ships and breaks them up for scrap

   subcontractor

   someone who enters into a subcontract with the primary contractor

   dustman, garbage carter, garbage collector, garbage hauler, garbage man, garbageman, refuse collector

   someone employed to collect and dispose of refuse

   type of:

   builder, constructor

   someone who contracts for and supervises construction (as of a building)
2. noun

   a bodily organ that contracts
   synonyms: contractile organ

   types:

   muscle, musculus

   one of the contractile organs of the body

   skeletal muscle, striated muscle

   a muscle that is connected at either or both ends to a bone and so move parts of the skeleton; a muscle that is characterized by transverse stripes

   pronator

   a muscle that produces or assists in pronation

   supinator

   a muscle (especially in the forearm) that produces or assists in supination

   levator

   a muscle that serves to lift some body part (as the eyelid or lip)

   antagonistic muscle

   (physiology) a muscle that opposes the action of another

   eye muscle, ocular muscle

   one of the small muscles of the eye that serve to rotate the eyeball

   rectus

   any of various straight muscles

   involuntary muscle, smooth muscle

   a muscle that contracts without conscious control and found in walls of internal organs such as stomach and intestine and bladder and blood vessels (excluding the heart)

   anatomical sphincter, sphincter, sphincter muscle

   a ring of muscle that contracts to close an opening

   tensor

   any of several muscles that cause an attached structure to become tense or firm

   type of:

   organ

   a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function
3. noun

   (law) a party to a contract
   types:

   builder, constructor

   someone who contracts for and supervises construction (as of a building)

   boatbuilder

   a person who builds boats

   home-builder, homebuilder, house-builder, housebuilder

   someone who builds houses as a business

   jerry-builder

   someone who builds cheap buildings out of poor materials on speculation for a quick profit

   road builder

   someone whose business is to build roads

   ship builder, shipbuilder

   a person who builds ships as a business

   type of:

   party

   a person involved in legal proceedings
4. noun

   the bridge player in contract bridge who wins the bidding and can declare which suit is to be trumps
   synonyms: declarer

   type of:

   bridge player, hand

   a card player in a game of bridge