Significance Contractile movements in the mammalian intestine typically rely on dedicated muscle cells. Here, we however show that untransformed intestinal epithelial cell layers initiate immediate focal contractions, affecting hundreds to thousands of epithelial cells, in response to bacterial infection. This epithelial contraction response occurs in the absence of other mucosal cell types. Instead, the epithelium itself senses the pathogen intrusion through a pattern recognition receptor complex—NAIP/NLRC4—and initiates actomyosin contractions that propagate across the epithelial layer. Within minutes, this response densifies the cell packing at infection sites and may prevent tissue disintegration during the subsequent stage of epithelial cell death and expulsion. Our results highlight a previously unappreciated dynamic behavior of intestinal epithelia.