shorten

[shawr-tn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR shorten ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to make short or shorter.

to reduce, decrease, take in, etc.: to shorten sail.

to make (pastry, bread, etc.) short, as with butter or other fat.

Sports. choke(def 8).

verb (used without object)

to become short or shorter.

(of odds) to decrease.

Nearby words

Origin of shorten

First recorded in 1505–15; short + -en¹

SYNONYMS FOR shorten

1. condense, lessen, limit, restrict. 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. 5. contract, lessen.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR shorten ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

short·en·er, nouno·ver·short·en, verbpre·short·en, verb (used with object)re·short·en, verb

un·der·short·en, verb (used with object)un·short·en, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for shorten

“In some cases, it has taken 15 days to report the deaths and circumstances, which I would like to shorten to 48 hours,” she said.
Did This Flu Vaccine Kill 13?|Barbie Latza Nadeau|December 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We have to shorten the distance between inevitable and inconceivable.
Square Deal, New Deal, and Now, From Hillary Clinton, a “Fair Shot”|Eleanor Clift|September 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Just like nobody is going to tell David O. Russell to shorten American Hustle (138 minutes).
Our Pop Culture Wish List for 2014|Kevin Fallon|December 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
A new study says living in the South will shorten your life.
Study Proves Southern States Have Lowest Life Expectancy|Eliza Shapiro|July 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST

We have to overturn Citizens United and shorten the campaign season.
David Stockman on ‘The Great Deformation’ and Our Economic Doom|Daniel Gross|April 1, 2013|DAILY BEAST
If the King desires to shorten my days he has only to keep me in captivity.
The Life of Marie de Medicis, Vol. 3 (of 3)|Julia Pardoe
Cantor Weiss is very bitter against the up-town cantors: "They shorten the prayer," he said.
The Spirit of the Ghetto|Hutchins Hapgood
The most they can do is to shorten a life that has already almost finished its career.
The Blossoms of Morality|Richard Johnson
Or could he have secured the same result by moving his finger up and down the string to lengthen or shorten it?
Common Science|Carleton W. Washburne
Let us shorten the story wherever we can, for it will need it, being long.
Life On The Mississippi, Complete|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

British Dictionary definitions for shorten

shorten

verb

to make or become short or shorter

(tr) nautical to reduce the area of (sail)

(tr) to make (pastry, bread, etc) short, by adding butter or another fat

gambling to cause (the odds) to lessen or (of odds) to become less

Derived Formsshortener, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for shorten

shorten

1510s, "make shorter;" 1560s, "grow shorter," from short (adj.) + -en (1); the earlier form of the verb was simply short, from Old English sceortian "to grow short, become short; run short, fail," gescyrtan "to make short."