How to Use protract in a Sentence

protract

verb
Definition of protractnext
Synonyms for protractnext
  • Their young players are not good enough to protract the dynasty.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
  • The strike would be the first in 15 years and history suggests it could be protracted.
    — Anousha Sakoui, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2023
  • But this diplomatic can of worms could protract the conflict in Lebanon.
    — CNN, 13 Apr. 2024
  • But the road to the referendum was protracted and bloody.
    — The Economist, 23 Nov. 2019
  • This will be bloody, long and protracted, something the coalition does not want.
    — Hollie McKay, Fox News, 6 Aug. 2018
  • That could take some time, that could really protract things.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 18 Feb. 2022
  • The mean girl, the underdog, the sassy gay man, and the others, who have little function beyond protracting the process.
    — Chicago Reader, 2 Aug. 2017
  • Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests were the largest and most protracted in the city’s history.
    — Ellen Bork, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2023
  • That shows just how protracted and litigious these matters can be.
    — Alexander Smith, NBC News, 12 Aug. 2024
  • The finale is protracted to the point of exhaustion, as the music hits a climactic wall and then runs into it again and again.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2017
  • Hochstein said an all-out war with Hezbollah risks a much broader and protracted regional conflict, the sources said.
    — Barak Ravid, Axios, 16 Sep. 2024
  • The process of making sourdough is protracted, but Petrarca and Richardson said the crusty, tangy result is worth the effort.
    — David Lindquist, Indianapolis Star, 16 Apr. 2020
  • Slowly lower your arms back to the starting position, allowing the scapula to protract and get a full stretch at the bottom.
    — Diego Mercado, Men's Health, 17 Jan. 2023
  • Henley is not someone to wear the heart of the matter out on his sleeve in a rowdy atmosphere, so the moment was neither teary nor protracted.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 21 Sep. 2024
  • If such a downturn is prolonged and protracted, months after the fact it is labeled a recession.
    — Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2023
  • Then there’s more small talk and finally a protracted goodbye.
    — David Pierce, WSJ, 8 July 2018
  • Already, the war has stretched for more than 14 months, making a yearslong protracted conflict more likely.
    — Paul Sonne, BostonGlobe.com, 6 May 2023
  • The wars in both Gaza and Ukraine have shown that modern conflict is munitions-intensive and protracted.
    — Thomas G. Mahnken, Foreign Affairs, 5 June 2024
  • On Sunday, Washington felt and beheld a day of warmth, haze and protracted sunshine.
    — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 19 June 2023
  • The result of these won't be known for at least three weeks, protracting the negotiations, which have already taken months.
    — Jeremy Wallace, Houston Chronicle, 21 Feb. 2018
  • The length may set a record for the court system in the nation’s capital and is likely among the most protracted in the history of American jurisprudence.
    — Peter Jamison, Washington Post, 29 May 2017
  • The United States fought bloody and protracted wars in Korea and Vietnam and yet abstained from playing its nuclear trump card.
    — Andrew F. Krepinevich, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2023
  • Emma Bovary to debt, seedy affairs and protracted death by arsenic.
    — Parul Sehgal, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2017
  • This process is bound to be contentious and protracted as Trump and the Special Counsel’s Office are likely to have very different answers to those questions.
    — Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 2 July 2024
  • The legal contest will likely be protracted and contentious.
    — Alexander William Salter, National Review, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Cost overruns lead to projects going way over budget, and there are often protracted battles over routing.
    — Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Dec. 2023
  • But as the war becomes protracted, the country also faces major structural demands.
    — Nataliya Gumenyuk, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2024
  • The answer is yes, but they’re not protracted conversations.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 July 2023
  • The improbable, protracted, yet oh-so-close resurrection of Tip Top Café is in a holding pattern because of two things.
    — Matt Wake | [email protected], al, 26 Jan. 2023
  • Friction point: The Navy's priority boats are years behind construction schedule, and aging ships and protracted repair windows are compounding the problem.
    — Colin Demarest, Axios, 25 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'protract.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: