protract

American  

[proh-trakt, pruh-] / proʊˈtrækt, prə- /

verb (used with object)

• protracts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• protracted,
  past participle,  past
• protracting
  present participle

1. to draw out or lengthen, especially in time; extend the duration of; prolong.

   Synonyms:

   continue

   Antonyms:

   curtail

2. Anatomy. to extend or protrude.

3. (in surveying, mathematics, etc.) to plot and draw (lines) with a scale and a protractor.

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protract British  

/ prəˈtrækt /

verb

1. to lengthen or extend (a speech, etc); prolong in time

2. (of a muscle) to draw, thrust, or extend (a part, etc) forwards

3. to plot or draw using a protractor and scale

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Synonym Usage

See lengthen.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• protractedness
  noun
• overprotract
  verb (used with object)
• protractible
  adjective
• protractive
  adjective
• unprotracted
  adjective
• unprotractive
  adjective
• protractedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• protracting
  present
• protracted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• protract
  simple
• protracts
  simple
• have protracted
  perfect
• has protracted
  perfect
• am protracting
  progressive
• are protracting
  progressive
• is protracting
  progressive
• have been protracting
  perfect progressive
• has been protracting
  perfect progressive

Past

• protracted
  simple
• had protracted
  perfect
• was protracting
  progressive
• were protracting
  progressive
• had been protracting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will protract
  simple
• will have protracted
  perfect
• will be protracting
  progressive
• will have been protracting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of protract

First recorded in 1540–50, protract is from the Latin word prōtractus (past participle of prōtrahere “to draw forth, prolong”). See pro- ¹, tract ¹

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Explanation

To protract something is to stretch it out. If you have a disagreement with a friend that you continue for weeks and weeks, you are protracting the argument. Protract can also mean to draw a plan to scale. Basically when you protract something, you draw it out. You may remember from geometry that a protractor is a device used to draw exact angles. A protractor allows you to protract a plan for the perfect catapult — perfect to use to end a protracted battle.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

protract protracts protracted protracting

The judges agreed with a lower court that continuing treatment “serves only to protract his death.”

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2022

Last week, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that continued treatment was "futile" and that it "serves only to protract his death, whilst being unable to prolong his life".

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2022

Associated Newspapers "have a right to this trial, and I think that that is just going to protract the pain for Meghan Markle," Stephens said.

From Fox News ● Dec. 2, 2021

“Trying to fight that is so difficult,” she said, in part because the sovereign citizens often purposely protract litigation to stall efforts to remove them.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 26, 2021

I brushed the lever lightly, listening as the hydraulic cylinders hissed softly to protract.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

The episodic nature of the work protracts the ending.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2023

“If the conflict protracts, the Ukrainians have more leverage to be able to negotiate,” Watling said.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2022

What distinguishes this pandemic as a traumatic experience, she said, is that no one knows when it will end, which protracts anxiety.

From New York Times ● May 16, 2020

Matthew Warchus's revival protracts the overall experience to three hours... at least a small part of this excess is attributable to the meal Spall makes of his lines.

From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2016

Glorious for light is the earliest love; But worldly things, in the rays thereof, Extend their shadows, every one False as the image which the sun At noon or eve dwarfs or protracts.

From Victories of Love by Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore

A protracted salary-cap standoff could jeopardize the 2027 season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026

“While we’re going through this period of protracted crisis of no war, no peace, we are clearly seeking a political offramp,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

In China, higher crude prices -- combined with "protracted uncertainty and structural headwinds" -- led the IMF to slightly downgrade its July projection for the country's annual growth to 4.5 percent.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

His sentencing will conclude a dramatic and protracted downfall for a preacher who at one point been preparing to take NOS global with expansion to the US.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

She seemed to have wakened from a protracted stupor and discovered the joy of being alive.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

It’s good that the bar at Itsumono is a fine hangout, because as the place fills up you will hang out, with waits between drinks protracting even with two barkeeps at work.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2023

Ellenborough, when at the bar, after protracting his argument to the hour of adjournment, said that he would conclude when it should suit His Lordship's pleasure to hear him.

From Something of Men I Have Known With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective by Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing) Stevenson

I know there has been no impolicy in protracting his absence thus far.

From Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

It did not occur to his mind that Dieppe had anything to gain—or even a bare chance of gaining anything—by protracting the conversation.

From Captain Dieppe by Anthony Hope

Something cognate to this in the comparison of the power and the greatness of a motive will explain the persistent fatuity of the Boer in protracting his contest with Great Britain.

From Fetichism in West Africa Forty Years' Observations of Native Customs and Superstitions by Robert Hamill Nassau

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Related Words

• prolong
• put off

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