foreshorten
Americanverb (used with object)
-
foreshortens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foreshortened,
past participle, past
-
foreshortening
present participle
-
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.
-
to abridge, reduce, or contract; make shorter.
verb
-
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
-
to make shorter or more condensed; reduce or abridge
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foreshortensimple
-
foreshortenssimple
-
have foreshortenedperfect
-
has foreshortenedperfect
-
am foreshorteningprogressive
-
are foreshorteningprogressive
-
is foreshorteningprogressive
-
have been foreshorteningperfect progressive
-
has been foreshorteningperfect progressive
Past
-
foreshortenedsimple
-
had foreshortenedperfect
-
was foreshorteningprogressive
-
were foreshorteningprogressive
-
had been foreshorteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of foreshorten
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.
Vocabulary lists containing foreshorten
Visual Arts - High School
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Art History
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Visual Arts - Middle School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
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
"My advice to business leaders is not to foreshorten the horizon at a moment like this."
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
His use of telephoto lenses to foreshorten perspective is so expert that it is often unnoticeable.
From Time Magazine Archive
After all, foreshortening is only good drawing, and a good draughtsman will foreshorten well, while a bad draughtsman will not.
From The Painter in Oil A complete treatise on the principles and technique necessary to the painting of pictures in oil colors by Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst
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
In the “Fair in Piazza S. Marco” the arch from under which the Fair appears is gigantic, and he foreshortens the wing of the royal palace.
From The Venetian School of Painting by Evelyn March Phillipps
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
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
Like drama which compresses the tragedy of a lifetime into a unity of time, place, and action, history foreshortens an epoch into an episode.
From A Preface to Politics by Walter Lippmann
She has foreshortened arms and legs, with one digit on each hand.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2025
But that version of the story has been so foreshortened that I think it skips over the most significant facts, not to mention the unanswered questions.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2023
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
The more recent photos are often taken from an angle that leaves her head as oversize as a toddler’s, her legs foreshortened, her feet like a doll’s not too far away from her waist.
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2019
Her foreshortened figure rushed away from him; the diminishing square of the roof seemed to be falling through the darkness.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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
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
In “Flatboatmen,” the recession is signaled by the extreme foreshortening of a man seen from behind, on his back, his hands locked behind his head, his body pointing straight into the picture.
From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2015
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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
