abridge
Americanverb (used with object)
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:
The government may abridge those rights only by establishing that the LPR fits within one of the exceptions.
From Slate ● Jun. 23, 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 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
Still, they raise antibody levels overall, and should help stave off severe symptoms and abridge the duration of illness, said Aubree Gordon, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan.
From New York Times ● Oct. 23, 2022
The producers hope to abridge Philip’s nine-hour opera about an engineer who tries to bridge the Grand Canyon. accept/except.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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 contains many popular stories, but often transcribes or abridges official documents as well as ancient historians.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 379, May, 1847 by Various
A right can be denied outright, or it can be abridged, reduced, made less meaningful in practice while remaining formally available.
From Slate ● May 8, 2026
I first encountered Louisa May Alcott in an abridged children’s edition of “Little Women” that was brimming with pastel illustrations and tidy moral lessons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 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
Dunthorne had access to the German original, about 1,800 typewritten pages, as well as to a translated, abridged version distributed to family members.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2025
It was a paperback prose translation, abridged, set loose from its numbers, robbed of the music of the ancient Greek but—as far as I was concerned—still a terrific read.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
In 1870, the 15th Amendment prohibited the states from denying or abridging the right of citizens to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
The 1st Amendment guarantees only that the government refrains from abridging freedom of speech.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2024
The First Amendment prohibits Congress from abridging free speech, as well as from establishing an official religion or limiting religious liberty.
From Salon ● Apr. 14, 2024
On one hand, because their actions are those of the government, they are bound to follow rules that limit government power, such as the Constitution’s prohibition against abridging free speech.
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2023
All abridging remarks and other comments will be in this fancy italic type so you’ll know.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
