shorten
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to make or become short or shorter
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(tr) nautical to reduce the area of (sail)
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(tr) to make (pastry, bread, etc) short, by adding butter or another fat
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gambling to cause (the odds) to lessen or (of odds) to become less
Synonym Usage
Shorten, abbreviate, abridge, curtail mean to make shorter or briefer. Shorten is a general word meaning to make less in extent or duration: to shorten a dress, a prisoner's sentence. The other three terms suggest methods of shortening. To abbreviate is to make shorter by omission or contraction: to abbreviate a word. To abridge is to reduce in length or size by condensing, summarizing, and the like: to abridge a document. Curtail suggests deprivation and lack of completeness because of omitting some part: to curtail an explanation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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shortenernoun
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overshortenverb
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reshortenverb
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preshortenverb (used with object)
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undershortenverb (used with object)
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unshortenadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shortensimple
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shortenssimple
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have shortenedperfect
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has shortenedperfect
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am shorteningprogressive
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are shorteningprogressive
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is shorteningprogressive
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have been shorteningperfect progressive
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has been shorteningperfect progressive
Past
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shortenedsimple
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had shortenedperfect
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was shorteningprogressive
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were shorteningprogressive
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had been shorteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shorten
Vocabulary lists containing shorten
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:
Last year, California’s Great America, a Silicon Valley park operated by Six Flags Entertainment, had to cut its workforce and shorten its season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
The eminently sane Mr. Smith understands the need to shorten such timelines to better deter China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Based on genetic analyses, the researchers estimated that elevated tyrosine levels could shorten men's lifespan by nearly one year.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 15, 2026
Along with more money for counties and expanded voter education efforts, Romero suggested steps to shorten the California timeline for certifying results.
From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2026
Day after day was like this, and we began to shorten our hauls, for by midafternoon both of us would be sweating and shaking with strain and fatigue.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
This not only creates more room for components but also shortens wiring distances, reducing parasitic capacitance and significantly increasing communication bandwidth between different parts of a chip.
From Science Daily ● May 30, 2026
That means they will be hoping to come to an agreement with Red Bull that shortens that timeframe.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026
The urgency has grown as his career runway shortens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2026
That approach shortens supply chains, satisfies local regulations, and stabilizes market access.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026
“The king shortens no man’s shadow, though he may try,” Estraven remarked, and the cook looked satisfied.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
“I met with a financial representative who was not aware that AT&T was the shortened form of American Telephone and Telegraph.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Whether in its original eight-mile guise, or the shortened 4.3-mile version used since 1983, it has a combination of flowing, high and medium-speed corners matched by very few circuits in the world.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
"Even when we accounted for the fact that they were awake longer when sleep was shortened, participants spent more time being inactive than when they got adequate sleep," Zuraikat says.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 13, 2026
Setting aside the shortened 2020 season, Rendon averaged just 51 games per season from 2021 through 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
Many people believed that the hardships of the expedition had drastically shortened his life span.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
Friday’s stock-market action might have made for a shortening of memories.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
Before the CAZ was introduced, the council said air pollution was responsible for shortening the lives of about 900 people per year.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
“AI is in the midst of a capex boom with genuine risks: uncertain monetization, potential overbuild, shortening asset lives, and growing reliance on debt.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
It expands the simulation in Syopsys’ chip design software to include electrical, thermal, electromagnetic, and mechanical effects, shortening the chip design pipeline for the increasingly complex architectures coming from AI chip makers.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
Among them are the corn-fed chicken itself; modified cornstarch; mono-, tri-, and diglycerides; dextrose; lecithin; yellow corn flour; regular cornstarch; vegetable shortening; partially hydrogenated corn oil.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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.
