contracting vs shrinking

contracting

noun
  • The act of something that contracts or shrinks; contraction. 

  • Work done on a contract basis. 

adj
  • Getting smaller; drawing itself together into a smaller area. 

shrinking

noun
  • The act of one who, or that which, shrinks; act of becoming smaller or moving timidly away. 

adj
  • Shy and retiring. 

How often have the words contracting and shrinking occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )