apocopate

American

[uh-pok-uh-peyt] / əˈpɒk əˌpeɪt /

verb (used with object)

to shorten by apocope.

apocopate British

/ əˈpɒkəˌpeɪt /

verb

(tr) to omit the final sound or sounds of (a word)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

apocopation

noun

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of apocopate

1850–55; v. use of apocopate (adj.) curtailed, docked. See apocope, -ate ¹

Explanation

To apocopate is to shorten a word by cutting off its ending. We often apocopate the word photograph to photo and the word rhinoceros to rhino. Apocopate is a linguistic term whose parent word is the noun apocope, "the abbreviation of a word by omitting the final sound or sounds." Both words are derived from the Greek word apokoptein, meaning "to cut off." When you apocopate a word, you omit its final sound, letter, or one or more of its syllables, such as abbreviating hippopotamus as hippo. The word can also be used as an adjective: An apocopate word has been shortened by the loss of its ending sound or sounds. The word exam, an abbreviated form of examination, is apocopate.

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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.

To cut off or drop; as, to apocopate a word, or the last letter, syllable, or part of a word.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023