shorten
Americanverb (used with object)
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shortens,
present (3rd person singular)
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shortened,
past participle, past
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shortening
present participle
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:
For Albano, Trent Park is "on a par in terms of the military intelligence that was gained and... was used by the British government to shorten the length of the Second World War".
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Some shorten that to age 63, which is the last tax year before Medicare starts factoring your income into how much your annual premiums cost.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
By producing clearer images more quickly, the new antenna could shorten scan times while giving physicians greater confidence in their diagnoses.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
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 line moves pretty quickly, but it also doesn’t seem like it’s gonna shorten anytime soon.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
This setup reduces Nebius’ dependence on building new grid transmissions and shortens the timeline to power its facilities, the company said.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
That density shortens iteration cycles, improves yields, accelerates ramp-up and compounds tacit knowledge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 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
“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
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
“Food-safety issues were more problematic for the industry prior to COVID-19 as well as the broader adoption of social media that we argue has shortened consumers’ attention spans,” the analysts wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 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
These are naturally less sensitive to tiny defects on the crystal's surface, which had shortened magnon lifetimes in previous experiments.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026
At one, I purchased a used Mossberg twelve-gauge pump, which held five rounds and had a slightly shortened barrel.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
Analysts at investment banks connected to listing companies can now publish research alongside company prospectuses, shortening the IPO process by seven days, the Financial Conduct Authority said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Later studies by Wagner's group and other scientists showed that this shortening occurs across many types of cancer and may help tumors adapt, survive, and escape treatment.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
Friday’s stock-market action might have made for a shortening of memories.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
It expands the simulation in Synopsys’ 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
“I thought you were going to tell your speech to that man,” said Jo, rudely shortening her sister’s little reverie.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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.
