Meaning of shorten in English

Table of contents

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. reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
Examples
- « The manuscript must be shortened »
Antonyms
Derived terms
3. make short or shorter
Examples
- « shorten the skirt »
- « shorten the rope by a few inches »
Derived terms
- shortener
- shortening
4. become short or shorter
Examples
- « In winter, the days shorten »
Antonyms
- lengthen
5. edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
Examples
- « bowdlerize a novel »
Derived terms

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