protract

UK/pɹəˈtɹakt/US/pɹoʊˈtɹækt/

verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — protractor sits at #14,535Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: protracted, protracting

To protract is to draw something out longer than it need be. Protract the negotiations.

It always carries a note of complaint, since nothing worth doing is described as protracted. A protractor measures angles and is named from the same root, drawing lines out.

Definitions of protract

1verbprotractTo draw something out longer than it need be.C2
“They protracted the talks until everybody gave up.”

protract is an action.

Where it comes from

Latin protrahere, to draw forward, from pro plus trahere, to drag, the root of tractor and traction.

Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
prōtrahō
English, today
protract

From the past participle stem of Latin prōtrahō. by surface analysis, en + pro + tract.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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