foreshorten

American  

[fawr-shawr-tn, fohr-] / fɔrˈʃɔr tn, foʊr- /

verb (used with object)

• foreshortens,
  present (3rd person singular)
• foreshortened,
  past participle,  past
• foreshortening
  present participle

1. Fine Arts. to reduce or distort (parts of a represented object that are not parallel to the picture plane) in order to convey the illusion of three-dimensional space as perceived by the human eye: often done according to the rules of perspective.

2. to abridge, reduce, or contract; make shorter.

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foreshorten British  

/ fɔːˈʃɔːtən /

verb

1. to represent (a line, form, object, etc) as shorter than actual length in order to give an illusion of recession or projection, in accordance with the laws of linear perspective

2. to make shorter or more condensed; reduce or abridge

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unforeshortened
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• foreshortening
  present
• foreshortened
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• foreshorten
  simple
• foreshortens
  simple
• have foreshortened
  perfect
• has foreshortened
  perfect
• am foreshortening
  progressive
• are foreshortening
  progressive
• is foreshortening
  progressive
• have been foreshortening
  perfect progressive
• has been foreshortening
  perfect progressive

Past

• foreshortened
  simple
• had foreshortened
  perfect
• was foreshortening
  progressive
• were foreshortening
  progressive
• had been foreshortening
  perfect progressive

Future

• will foreshorten
  simple
• will have foreshortened
  perfect
• will be foreshortening
  progressive
• will have been foreshortening
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of foreshorten

First recorded in 1600–10; fore- + shorten

Explanation

When an artist foreshortens, she makes an object appear closer or a distance shorter than it is, to create a sense of depth in a painting or drawing. To foreshorten is to create a kind of optical illusion simply by making lines shorter or angling the perspective in a certain way. It's a technique used in art and design, but it's also a phenomenon you may observe in the world: "The angle from which she's looking foreshortens the mountain, making it look closer." This word dates from about 1600.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foreshorten foreshortens foreshortened foreshortening

Mantegna exploits the new Renaissance pictorial science to dramatically foreshorten the body of Christ, showing it feet-forward in a way that emphasises the terrible reality of death.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 19, 2014

His use of telephoto lenses to foreshorten perspective is so expert that it is often unnoticeable.

From Time Magazine Archive

A head-thumping, sword-swishing, bow-twanging technicolor attempt to foreshorten the popular episodes of the Soo-year-old saga into the perspective of a single connected story.

From Time Magazine Archive

If there were reasons to foreshorten the mission, however, they were apparently not medical.

From Time Magazine Archive

In order to find out, hold the page level with the eyes, so as to foreshorten the drawings.

From The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 29, May 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Various

In the light of a vivid recollection, the long tract between fades and foreshortens, till only the Then and the Now are notable.

From Idolatry A Romance by Julian Hawthorne

The long hair hanging down from the body foreshortens the appearance of the legs and gives a quaint look to the moving herd.

From The New North by Agnes Deans Cameron

His knowledge of anatomy is great and he foreshortens on canvas and ceiling astonishingly before the advent of Michael Angelo.

From Great Pictures, As Seen and Described by Famous Writers by Esther Singleton

The prophet always foreshortens his revelation, and generally blends the city of God with a vision of his own country transfigured.

From Outspoken Essays by William Ralph Inge

But this same Welsh peasant, who thus forgets and foreshortens recent history, always remembers that there were kings of Wales once.

From The Crest-Wave of Evolution A Course of Lectures in History, Given to the Graduates' Class in the Raja-Yoga College, Point Loma, in the College-Year 1918-19 by Kenneth Morris

She has foreshortened arms and legs, with one digit on each hand.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2025

Until they realize that living together, as messy as it is likely to be, is far preferable to the existential fear of foreshortened, forestalled and anxiety-filled lives recycled forever.

From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2024

The exception is Tom Sliter’s intimate close-up of two skaters’ feet and ankles, in which only foreshortened shadows disclose the existence of the full bodies beyond the frame.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2023

At night, a child’s agonized, animalistic moans reverberate through the house, the sounds explained by Patrick as a result of their son’s speech defect: a foreshortened tongue.

From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022

I noticed the way the artist defined her huge muscles using light and dark and how her knee was foreshortened, just like we were taught in art class.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

At Santa Croce, the world's largest Franciscan church, Giotto's frescoes bear witness to his innovations, including modern spatial techniques such as foreshortening and human figures imparted with a fleshy weightiness.

From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026

The paintings are often flawed, with problems of composition and foreshortening.

From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2020

As we grow older we are less likely to be seduced by fanciful ideas of what our foreshortening future might have to offer.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 15, 2020

Lucy needs to make sense of her past, render it communicable, but she’s weary of the violent foreshortening on which narrative depends.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 30, 2019

They kneeled between the frescoed walls, where some important-looking saints with blue haloes were standing on tiptoe to avoid foreshortening, and the gay paints of the stained-glass window poured upon their heads.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White