curtailment

American  

[ker-teyl-muhnt] / kərˈteɪl mənt /

noun

1. the act of cutting something short or cutting it back; reduction.

   Constant curtailment of postal service has inconvenienced every citizen.

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Other Word Forms

• noncurtailment
  noun

Etymology

Origin of curtailment

curtail + -ment ( def. )

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

curtailment

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

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 economy has been remarkably resilient in the past year in the face of weak sentiment, tariffs, an uncertain business environment, a sharp curtailment of immigration and a prolonged government shutdown.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026

He was in the wrong key and he came out two or three syllables behind on most of the lines, but undismayed by the sudden curtailment went boldly ahead on the next.

From The Story of a Doctor's Telephone?Told by His Wife by Ellen M. Firebaugh