MUSCULAR CONTRACTION Synonyms

• a narrowing that reduces the flow through a channel

• tight or narrow compression

• a tight feeling in some part of the body

• the action or process of compressing

• a painful and involuntary muscular contraction

• a clamp for holding pieces of wood together while they are glued

• a strip of metal with ends bent at right angles; used to hold masonry together

• secure with a cramp

• prevent the progress or free movement of

• affect with or as if with a cramp

• suffer from sudden painful contraction of a muscle

• a painful and involuntary muscular contraction

• (pathology) sudden constriction of a hollow organ (as a blood vessel)

• the act of making something tighter

• the act of flexing

• contract

• exhibit the strength of

• form a curve

• bend a joint

• cause (an object) to assume a crooked or angular form

• in or of a state of physical or nervous tension

• pronounced with relatively tense tongue muscles (e.g., the vowel sound in `beat')

• taut or rigid; stretched tight

• a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time

• become stretched or tense or taut

• increase the tension on

• become tense, nervous, or uneasy

• cause to be tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious

• (physiology) a shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber)