Definition of "contractedness" [con•tract•ed•ness]

• The state of being contracted. (noun)

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• "It was once possible to row along this river; but its bed is now choked with solid substances, and is so narrowed by its straits that few vessels can get in, being prevented by its sluggishness and contractedness."
• "Now, we insist that political economy and the greatest well-being of all require that the political jurisdiction should, as far as possible, be commensurate with that commercial, industrial, and social dependence which works itself out to a large degree of fulfilment in spite of the obstructions interposed by the contractedness and isolation of political organization."
• "In this sense he felt contractedness to be the predominant characteristic of Earth and Water, expansiveness that of Air and Fire."