EnglishLearner.com
  • Dictionary
  • List of exercises
  • Exercises by level
    • Beginner exercises
    • Intermediate exercises
    • Advanced exercises
  • Dictionary
  • List of exercises
  • Exercises by level+
    • Beginner exercises
    • Intermediate exercises
    • Advanced exercises

Meaning of shorten in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Definitions
  1. Pronunciation

    US accent

    How to pronounce shorten in American English, in context ▾
    Use the controls below Controls button to browse different examples of pronunciation.

    UK accent

    How to pronounce shorten in British English, in context ▾
    Use the controls below Controls button to browse different examples of pronunciation.
  1. Verb

    shorten

    Definitions

    1. make shorter than originally intended

    Examples

    • « reduce or retrench in length or duration »
    • « He shortened his trip due to illness »

    Antonyms

    • lengthen

    Derived terms

    • shortener
  2. 2. reduce in scope while retaining essential elements

    Examples

    • « The manuscript must be shortened »

    Antonyms

    • elaborate
    • lucubrate
    • expatiate
    • exposit
    • enlarge
    • flesh out
    • expand
    • expound
    • dilate

    Derived terms

    • abbreviator
    • abridgement
    • abridger
    • abridgment
    • capsule
    • condensation
    • contraction
    • shortener
  3. 3. make short or shorter

    Examples

    • « shorten the skirt »
    • « shorten the rope by a few inches »

    Derived terms

    • shortener
    • shortening
  4. 4. become short or shorter

    Examples

    • « In winter, the days shorten »

    Antonyms

    • lengthen
  5. 5. edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate

    Examples

    • « bowdlerize a novel »

    Derived terms

    • Bowdler
    • bowdlerisation
    • bowdlerization
    • castration
    • expurgation
    • Thomas Bowdler

Famous quotes

  • « I don't believe medical discoveries are doing much to advance human life. As fast as we create ways to extend it we are inventing ways to shorten it. »
    Christiaan Barnard
  • « It is the work of fancy to enlarge, but of judgment to shorten and contract and therefore this must be as far above the other as judgment is a greater and nobler faculty than fancy or imagination. »
    Robert South
  • « In approaching our subject it will be best, without attempting to shorten the path by referring to famous theories of the drama, to start directly from the facts, and to collect from them gradually an idea of Shakespearean Tragedy. »
    Andrew Coyle Bradley
  • « But I was also a big mouth, I started to develop a troubled relationship with Harry Shorten. »
    Gil Kane
  • « I'm not really a fashion designer. I just love clothes. I've never been to design school. I can't sketch. I can't cut patterns and things. I can shorten things. I can make a dress out of a scarf. »
    Kate Moss

Browse dictionary

  • shortcut
  • shortcoming
  • shortcake
  • shortbread cookie
  • shorten
  • shortened
  • shortener
  • shortening
  • shortest
Copyright © EnglishLearner.com 1998-2021