From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcontributioncon‧tri‧bu‧tion /ˌkɒntrəˈbjuːʃən $ ˌkɑːn-/ ●●○ W3 AWL noun 1 [countable]HELP something that you give or do in order to help something be successfulcontribution to/towards Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to Quantum Theory. The school sees its job as preparing students to make a contribution to society.significant/substantial/valuable etc contribution Wolko made outstanding contributions to children’s medicine.2 [countable]GIVE an amount of money that you give in order to help pay for something a campaign contributioncontribution of A contribution of £25 will buy 15 books.contribution to/towards Contributions to charities are tax deductible. You can make annual contributions of up to $1,000 in education savings accounts.3 [countable]BEC a regular payment that you make to your employer or to the government to pay for things that you will receive when you are no longer working, for example health care, a pension etc income tax and national insurance contributionscontribution to Have you been making regular contributions to a pension plan?4 [countable]TCNWRITE a piece of writing, a song, a speech etc that forms part of a larger work such as a newspaper, book, broadcast, recording etccontribution from a magazine with contributions from well-known travel writers a Christmas album featuring contributions from Carly Simon, Amy Grant, and others5 [uncountable]GIVE when you give money, time, help etc All the money has been raised by voluntary contribution.COLLOCATIONSverbsmake a contributionI’d like everyone to make a contribution towards the discussion.acknowledge/recognize somebody’s contribution (=say that you are grateful for what someone has done)He acknowledged the contribution of many individuals in developing the report.value somebody’s contribution (=think that someone’s contribution is important)They didn’t seem to value my contribution.adjectivesa major/great contributionTourism makes a major contribution to the local economy.a positive contributionWe want kids to grow up to make a positive contribution to society.a huge contributionThis player has made a huge contribution to our club.a significant/important contributionAll of you can make a significant contribution to the organization.a useful/valuable contributionI joined the society because I felt I could make a useful contribution.an invaluable/outstanding contribution (=extremely useful)He won the award for his outstanding contribution over many years.a vital contribution (=a very important one)Volunteers make a vital contribution in this country.
Examples from the Corpus
contribution• health-care insurance contributions• Its contribution is particular rather than general, and some have questioned whether there is a need for two levels of appeal court.• Many like them have raised money for local charities or simply made a genuine and lasting contribution to their communities.• In addition, many companies make contributions to employee retirement plans at the start of the year.• A few have a better matching contribution plan.• Pastor also received no contribution from the organization.• He stressed the contribution that pragmatic Britain could make.• a journal with contributions from well-known writerssignificant/substantial/valuable etc contribution• It grows well under water and could be a valuable contribution to the hobby.• She has achieved a great deal, and made a valuable contribution to our company's efficiency over these last seven years.• Already the computer has made a significant contribution to the processing of much of the routine data generated by office staff.• Of course the paras make a valuable contribution.• Some had large dependent families, while others had teenage children able to make a substantial contribution.• The collection took place on 15/16 June and resulted in the most valuable contribution of £125,903 to the Association.• It recognised the significant contribution to the quality of the environment made by members in the public sector.• They have both made very substantial contributions to the progress of the Group and we will miss their sound advice.make ... contributions• Anyone can make contributions into a stakeholder pension even if they have no earnings.• Obviously, these are people who had made some contributions.• An inefficient socialist economy and thirty years of increasingly corrupt one-party rule have made their contributions.• It was decided to have two selectors who have made significant contributions to contemporary art; one artist and one critic.• It made financial contributions at independence 20 years ago.• Members make contributions based on talent, not on role.• A large proportion of our researchers are therefore unlikely to make major contributions to the literature of their research area.• We make additional contributions on each of their birthdays, and the accounts now amount to $ 11,000 each.making ... contributions• Several albums were also received, with two above average, all making significant contributions to the takings.• All are making significant contributions to the breed at this time.• Piggott is not listed as making any contributions to Gingrich on Federal Election Commission files.• Living artists would keep adding to it by making contributions from their works.• The arithmetic of compound interest is such that delays in making contributions to trust funds tend to be quite costly.• The PACs target powerful politicians in making contributions.• Our specialities and solvents businesses further strengthened their positions, making good contributions to the overall result.• Beveridge wanted a system based on insurance, with the public making insurance contributions to finance benefits like the state pension.From Longman Business Dictionarycontributioncon‧tri‧bu‧tion /ˌkɒntrəˈbjuːʃənˌkɑːn-/ noun1[countable usually plural] a regular payment made to the government by an employee and their employer so that the employee has the right to receive money from the government when they are ill or unemployedTo qualify for the full basic pension, someone would need to have paid national insurance contributions for most of their working life.In many pension schemes, you’re allowed to pay additional voluntary contributions to buy a bigger pension.2[countable] an amount given to CHARITYHis contributions this year include gifts to the San Francisco library and Museum of Modern Art.3[countable usually singular]ACCOUNTING the amount a particular product or activity pays to a company’s OVERHEADsthe contribution the business makes to corporate overheads and the way it is linked to the company’s other operations4[countable]INSURANCE an amount that each co-insurer pays to the insurer who actually pays a CLAIMIf the claim exceeds $100 then a contribution should be obtained from the Home Insurer on an independent liability basis. → general average contribution 