[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The state or quality of being contracted.
1659. H. More, Immort. Soul, 226. The Contractedness of the Soul in Infancy.
a. 1697. South, 12 Serm., II. 195. Brevity, or Contractedness of Speech in Prayer.
1757. Johnstone, in Phil. Trans., L. 546. The hardness and contractedness of her pulse.
1875. Contemp. Rev., XXVII. 115. Their religion … had little breadth, but was redeemed from mere ecclesiastical contractedness.
