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.
"I think once he got that curtailment letter, he thought there's no way out, they're telling me to leave, I need to do something."
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 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
The Doomberg article mentioned rising curtailment rates for renewables.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026
Mr Paddick says he has seen "a curtailment of charitable giving".
From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2025
The curtailment of the plan which compelled the architect to place a compressed west façade on a high socle, eliminated the door.
From Problems in Periclean Buildings by Elderkin, G. W. (George Wicker)
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.
