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protract

/pɹoʊˈtɹækt/verb

protract is spelled P-R-O-T-R-A-C-T: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 45 million words in written English, the 206,808th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, protract means “To draw out; to extend, especially in duration” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in protract?

Letters8: P-R-O-T-R-A-C-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 45 million words; the 206,808th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is protract?

Protract appears about once in every 45 million words in written English, the 206,808th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce protract?

  • UK /pɹəˈtɹakt/
  • US /pɹoʊˈtɹækt/
  • US /pɹəˈtɹækt/

Protract has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-protract.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-StuckInLagToad-protract.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with protract?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as protract from its last stressed vowel (/ækt/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of protract

  • protracts present, singular, he/she/it
  • protracting participle, present
  • protracted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does protract mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To draw out; to extend, especially in duration.

  2. 2

    To use a protractor.

  3. 3

    To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of, with scale and protractor; to plot.

  4. 4

    To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer.

    to protract a decision or duty

  5. 5

    To extend; to protrude.

    A cat can protract and retract its claws.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Protract in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchprolonger, tirer en longueur (To draw out; to extend, especially in duration)
Germanverlängern, sich ziehen, sich hinziehen, in die Länge ziehen, überziehen (To draw out; to extend, especially in duration), verschieben (to put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer)
Portugueseprolongar (To draw out; to extend, especially in duration)
Spanishprolongar, protraer (To draw out; to extend, especially in duration), diferir (to put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer), extender (to extend; to protrude)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does protract come from?

From the past participle stem of Latin prōtrahō. By surface analysis, pro- + tract.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after protract