curtailment
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of curtailment
Explanation
A curtailment is an ending or restriction. The curtailment of your allowance means you'll have to get a job if you want to keep buying new video games. The noun curtailment is a somewhat formal way to say "limitation." It comes from the Old French court, "short," and a root meaning "to cut." You can think of a curtailment as cutting something short, whether it's the curtailment of your bike riding once the temperature drops in the fall, or the curtailment of your driving privileges after you get into a fender-bender.
Vocabulary lists containing curtailment
Franklin D. Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933), List 1
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Vocabulary from Readings 4, Unit 2
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Vocabulary from Readings 6, Unit 4
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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.
Energy-guzzling server farms could also help solve renewables' issue of curtailment, or the over-production of energy.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Anna-Marie Duthie, travel insurance expert at financial rating firm Defaqto, says that if this happens after you have booked your trip, "you may be covered for cancellation or curtailment".
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“The curtailment of First Amendment rights is dangerous at any time, and even more so in a time of war,” Friedman wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
District Court ruled that conditioning minors’ social media participation on parental consent is “an impermissible curtailment of their First Amendment rights.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Lola Montez made her début on 21st September, in a short drama allusive to her own Bavarian transactions, but the piece might well have borne curtailment.
From Lola Montez An Adventuress of the 'Forties by Edmund B. d'Auvergne
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.
