abridge
Americanverb (used with object)
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abridges,
present (3rd person singular)
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abridged,
past participle, past
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abridging
present participle
verb
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to reduce the length of (a written work) by condensing or rewriting
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to curtail; diminish
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archaic to deprive of (privileges, rights, etc)
Synonym Usage
See shorten.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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abridgernoun
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reabridgeverb (used with object)
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abridgableadjective
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abridgeableadjective
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nonabridgableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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abridgesimple
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abridgessimple
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have abridgedperfect
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has abridgedperfect
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am abridgingprogressive
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are abridgingprogressive
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is abridgingprogressive
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have been abridgingperfect progressive
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has been abridgingperfect progressive
Past
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abridgedsimple
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had abridgedperfect
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was abridgingprogressive
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were abridgingprogressive
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had been abridgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of abridge
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English abreggen, abriggen, from Middle French abreg(i)er, from Late Latin abbreviāre “to shorten”; see a- 4, abbreviate
Explanation
So the editor wants to cut your epic 800-page history of the stapler to a 150-page summary instead. Don't cry — he just wants to abridge your masterpiece, trimming it down to the more readable essential elements. Synonymous with abbreviate, condense and cut short, abridge comes from the Latin word abreviare, which means "to shorten." Although it's usually used in reference to wordy texts, one can also abridge or shorten a piece of clothing; a miniskirt is just an abridged version of the old floor length hoop skirt, for example. But abridging something isn't always good: If your civil rights are abridged, they've been lessened in some way.
Vocabulary lists containing abridge
The Bill of Rights
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19th Amendment (1920)
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"On Women's Right to Vote" by Susan B. Anthony
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Another provision, the Privileges or Immunities Clause, declares that no state “shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Of course, the Constitution contemplates that democracy is the appropriate process for change, so long as that process does not abridge fundamental rights .
From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2025
In other words, to the extent that selling shirts constitutes “speech,” denying Elster an exclusive right to do so does not abridge it.
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2023
In televised remarks before the cabinet session, Netanyahu said it was "unthinkable" that the government would abridge the right to demonstrate or support any violence against protesters.
From Reuters ● Jul. 9, 2023
“Listen, you guys published a book just after World War I. Do you think it might be a good idea for me to abridge it and we’d republish it now?”
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
She abridges its plot, removing the second-generation narrative that bookends Brontë’s writing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
The amendment speaks solely to governmental action that abridges free speech, not to societal actions or the actions of other individuals.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 26, 2022
“It does not entitle the Florida Supreme Court to adopt, or this court to endorse, a rule of judicial conduct that abridges candidates’ speech in the judicial election that the Florida Constitution prescribes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2015
“While her father abuts the tempest/ and abridges the rain.”
From Slate
It is, I fear, a cheap liberality, and abridges not themselves of one enjoyment.
From Coelebs In Search of a Wife by Hannah More
“The Adding Machine” is often abridged to satisfy contemporary tastes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
The Collegiate—an abridged, more manageable version of the company’s gargantuan International edition—was introduced in 1898 and had been revised roughly every decade thereafter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
The Precision crew offered to put me through an abridged version of the member experience.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
This followed a 13-part, 13-hour series—Vietnam: A Television History—that premiered on PBS over 30 years earlier, in 1983, before being rebroadcast in abridged form on public television’s American Experience in 1997.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2025
So she’s learned to tell an abridged version.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
The First Amendment to the US Constitution forbids Congress from "abridging" the freedom of the press.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Advocates of originalism say this sort of backward-looking reasoning is the only way to prevent modern judges or legislatures from abridging individual rights ratified in the Constitution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
It’s an American flag inscribed with the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2025
The 1st Amendment guarantees only that the government refrains from abridging freedom of speech.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2024
All abridging remarks and other comments will be in this fancy italic type so you’ll know.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
