Shorten

Quick meaning: Shorten is a verb meaning (transitive) To make shorter; to abbreviate.

Meaning

(transitive) To make shorter; to abbreviate.

More Meanings

1. (intransitive) To become shorter.
2. (transitive) To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of).
3. (transitive) To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc.
4. (transitive) To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen.
5. (baking, of pastries, transitive) To make crumbly.
6. (nautical, transitive) To take in the slack of (a rope).
7. (nautical, transitive) To reduce (sail) by taking it in.

Example Sentences

to shorten an allowance of food

Spoiled of his nose, and shorten'd of his ears.

Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain.

Corn flour makes delicious pie crust, and needs less lard to shorten it.

Word Forms

• shortens
• shortening
• shortened

Synonyms for shorten

Depending on context, synonyms include abbreviate, abridge, compress, condense, curt, curtail.

Antonyms for shorten

Common opposites include extend, lengthen.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include abridge, reduce, expurgate, bowdlerize, bowdlerise, cut.

Related Dictionary Tools