1. A muscular contraction or shortening of the dorsal (back) region of an organism, commonly observed in marine animals like sea cucumbers as a defensive response
The sea cucumber exhibits a dorsal contraction when threatened by predators.
O pepino-do-mar exibe uma contração dorsal quando ameaçado por predadores.
2. In linguistics and phonetics, a contraction or reduction of dorsal consonants in speech
The dorsal contraction of the velar sounds occurred in the historical development of the language.
A contração dorsal dos sons velares ocorreu no desenvolvimento histórico da língua.