short

American  

[shawrt] / ʃɔrt /

adjective

• shorter,
  comparative
• shortest
  superlative

1. having little length; not long.

2. having little height; not tall.

   a short man.

3. extending or reaching only a little way.

   a short path.

   Antonyms:

   long

4. brief in duration; not extensive in time.

   a short wait.

   Antonyms:

   long

5. brief or concise, as writing.

   Synonyms:

   condensed, laconic, succinct, terse

6. rudely brief; abrupt; brusque.

   short behavior.

   Synonyms:

   testy, sharp, curt

7. low in amount; scanty.

   short rations.

   Synonyms:

   lacking, wanting, inadequate, deficient, poor

8. not reaching a point, mark, target, or the like; not long enough or far enough.

9. below the standard in extent, quantity, duration, etc..

   short measure.

10. having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often followed by in oron ).

    He was short in experience.

11. being below a necessary or desired level; lacking.

    The office is short due to winter colds and flu.

12. Cooking.

    1. (of pastry and the like) crisp and flaky; breaking or crumbling readily from being made with a large proportion of butter or other shortening.

    2. (of dough) containing a relatively large amount of shortening.

    Synonyms:

    crumbly

13. (of metals) deficient in tenacity; friable; brittle.

14. (of the head or skull) of less than ordinary length from front to back.

    Synonyms:

    brachycephalic

15. Stock Exchange.

    1. not possessing at the time of sale commodities or stocks that one sells.

    2. noting or pertaining to a sale of commodities or stocks that the seller does not possess, depending for profit on a decline in prices.

       You can cover your short transactions by purchasing securities in the distribution at the reduced price.

16. Phonetics.

    1. lasting a relatively short time.

       “Bit” has a shorter vowel-sound than “bid” or “bead.”

    2. belonging to a class of sounds considered as usually shorter in duration than another class, as the vowel of but as compared to that of bought, and in many languages serving as a distinctive feature of phonemes, as the a in German Bann in contrast with the ah in Bahn, or the t in Italian fato in contrast with the tt in fatto (opposed to long).

    3. having the sound of the English vowels in bat, bet, bit, hot, but, and put, historically descended from vowels that were short in duration.

17. Prosody.

    1. (of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.

    2. unstressed.

18. (of an alcoholic drink) small.

    a short drink.

19. Chiefly British. (of whiskey) undiluted; straight.

20. Ceramics. (of clay) not plastic enough to be modeled.

21. Ropemaking. hard.

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adverb

1. abruptly or suddenly.

   to stop short.

2. briefly; curtly.

3. on the near side of an intended or particular point.

   The arrow landed short.

4. Baseball.

   1. with the hands higher on the handle of the bat than usual.

      He held the bat short and flied out.

   2. in a fielding position closer to home plate than usual.

noun

• shorts
  plural

1. something that is short.

2. that which is deficient or lacking.

3. Usually the short the sum and substance of a matter; gist.

   Here's the short of it: they broke up two weeks before the wedding.

4. shorts,

   1. trousers, knee-length or shorter.

   2. short pants worn by men as an undergarment.

   3. knee breeches, formerly worn by men.

   4. Finance. short-term bonds.

   5. Mining. crushed ore failing to pass through a given screen, thus being of a larger given size than a specific grade.

   6. remnants, discards, or refuse of various cutting and manufacturing processes.

5. a size of garment for men who are shorter than average.

   He wears a 42 short.

6. a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in such a size.

7. Military. a shot that strikes or bursts short of the target.

8. Electricity. short circuit.

9. Prosody. a short sound or syllable.

10. Baseball. shortstop.

11. Movies. short subject.

12. Finance. short seller.

13. a deficiency or the amount of a deficiency.

14. Chiefly British. a small drink of straight whiskey; shot.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause a short circuit in.

2. to cheat by giving less than is expected or deserved; shortchange.

3. Stock Exchange. to sell (stocks, commodities, etc.) that one does not possess, with the intent of making a profit by purchasing them later at a lower price.

   He speculates on bubbles by shorting stocks that are overpriced, overhyped, and overdue for a slide.

verb (used without object)

1. to short-circuit.

idioms

1. short for, being a shorter form of; abbreviated to.

   “Phone” is short for “telephone.”

2. short and sweet. see short and sweet.

3. short of,

   1. less than; inferior to.

   2. inadequately supplied with (money, food, etc.).

   3. without going to the length of; failing of; excluding.

      Short of murder, there is nothing he wouldn't have tried to get what he wanted.

4. in short,

   1. in summary.

   2. in few words; in brief.

      In short, this has been rather a disappointing day.

5. cut short, to end abruptly; terminate.

   Her nap was cut short by a loud noise from outside.

6. run short, to be in insufficient supply.

   My patience is running short.

7. make short work of. work.

8. fall / come short,

   1. to fail to reach a particular standard.

   2. to prove insufficient; be lacking.

      Her funds fell short, and she had to wire home for help.

9. for short, by way of abbreviation.

   Her name is Patricia, and she's called Pat for short.

10. sell short,

    1. Stock Exchange. to sell stocks or the like without having them in one's actual possession at the time of the sale.

    2. to disparage or underestimate.

       Don't sell Tom short; he's really an excellent engineer.

short British  

/ ʃɔːt /

adjective

1. of little length; not long

2. of little height; not tall

3. of limited duration

4. not meeting a requirement; deficient

   the number of places laid at the table was short by four

5. (postpositive; often foll by of or on) lacking (in) or needful (of)

   I'm always short of money

6. concise; succinct

7. lacking in the power of retentiveness

   a short memory

8. abrupt to the point of rudeness

   the salesgirl was very short with him

9. finance

   1. not possessing the securities or commodities that have been sold under contract and therefore obliged to make a purchase before the delivery date

   2. of or relating to such sales, which depend on falling prices for profit

10. phonetics

    1. denoting a vowel of relatively brief temporal duration

    2. classified as short, as distinguished from other vowels. Thus in English ( ɪ ) in bin, though of longer duration than ( iː ) in beat, is nevertheless regarded as a short vowel

    3. (in popular usage) denoting the qualities of the five English vowels represented orthographically in the words pat, pet, pit, pot, put, and putt

11. prosody

    1. denoting a vowel that is phonetically short or a syllable containing such a vowel. In classical verse short vowels are followed by one consonant only or sometimes one consonant plus a following l or r

    2. (of a vowel or syllable in verse that is not quantitative) not carrying emphasis or accent; unstressed

12. (of pastry) crumbly in texture See also shortcrust pastry

13. (of a drink of spirits) undiluted; neat

14. (of betting odds) almost even

15. informal to have (someone) completely in one's power

16. scarce

17. unexpectedly brief

18. an abbreviation for

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adverb

1. abruptly

   to stop short

2. briefly or concisely

3. rudely or curtly

4. finance without possessing the securities or commodities at the time of their contractual sale

   to sell short

5. having a sudden need to urinate or defecate

6. 1. to prove inadequate

   2. (often foll by of) to fail to reach or measure up to (a standard)

7. not to have a sufficient amount, etc

8. except

   nothing short of a miracle can save him now

noun

1. anything that is short

2. a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer

3. phonetics prosody a short vowel or syllable

4. finance

   1. a short contract or sale

   2. a short seller

5. a short film, usually of a factual nature

6. See short circuit

7. informal as an abbreviation

   he is called Jim for short

8. 1. as a summary

   2. in a few words

verb

1. See short circuit

short More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing short

• by the short hairs
• caught short
• cut short
• fall short
• for short
• in brief (short)
• in short order
• in short supply
• in the long (short) run
• life is too short
• long (short) haul
• long and short of it
• make a long story short
• make short work of
• nothing short of
• run short
• sell short
• stop short

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Synonym Usage

Short, brief are opposed to long, and indicate slight extent or duration. Short may imply duration but is also applied to physical distance and certain purely spatial relations: a short journey. Brief refers especially to duration of time: brief intervals.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overshortness
  noun
• shortness
  noun
• overshort
  adjective
• unshort
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• shorts
  plural

Adjectives

• shorter
  comparative
• shortest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of short

First recorded before 900; Middle English adjective schort, Old English sceort; cognate with Old High German scurz “short,” Old Norse skortr “shortness, scarcity”

Explanation

Short describes something that is not as long as usual. If your childhood bed is too short for you, your feet will dangle over the edge, and if a school day is short, you'll get out early. The adjective short describes things that aren't long when you measure them, or have a small distance from one end to another, like your short hair or the short walk to the library. A small amount of time can also be described as short, like a short chat with your mom. As a verb, short can describe cheating someone out of money or not paying what is owed, like a friend who shorts you when the lunch bill arrives.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

short shorts shorter shortest

The bill fell short for Saronic, according to Sramek.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

Previous attempts to find her Electra have also come up short.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

If the index falls short, then the contracts will expire worthless.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026

The users spend an average of about 90 minutes a day scrolling through short videos, Reckitt estimated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

This is how Phineas dies, twenty days short of his thirty-seventh birthday.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

Palmer Luckey, 34-year-old co-founder of Anduril, is building the world’s next frontier of warfare for the Pentagon but wears a uniform of exclusively Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts.

From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026

True to form, Joe Lycett wore a polka-dot shorts suit with a purple feather collar.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Amateur male runners are ditching shorts for skintight speedsuits, but not because they make them faster.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

The elastic is long gone and the shorts are unwearable.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

She’d be wearing all new clothes — a T-shirt never worn until five minutes before and flip-flops and shorts with flowers on them.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

Investment pros say investors shouldn’t abandon bonds, but instead focus on those with shorter maturities.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Compared with the birds in Madmaheshwar valley, the monal in Chopta also produced shorter call durations likely to cut through low-frequency human noise from traffic and tourist footfall.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

When that happens, companies tend to rethink their borrowing needs, which can result in a pullback in bond issuance or more issuance for shorter periods of 10 years or less, King noted.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 3, 2026

During practice Wednesday, Redick had to make it shorter than anticipated.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

Her afternoon naps grew shorter, which meant that Ophie was forced to wait on the old woman.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland

It was the shortest outing of any of the Dodgers’ starters, but he still held the Braves to one run.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

Florida firefighter sets record as shortest woman in profession.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

The canal "opens up the shortest, most economical and most convenient route" to Southeast Asia and will boost economic development, Xinhua said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

The controversy arose from the fact that there was a 77-centimetre discrepancy between the officially measured distance of the pit lane and the real shortest route a driver could legally take.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Somehow Lacey got shotgun, although she was the shortest of us.

From "Paper Towns" by John Green

Related Words

• abbreviated
• brief
• crisp
• precise
• shortened
• terse