Showing results for "shortening"

• present participle of shorten.

shortening

American  

[shawrt-ning, shawr-tn-ing] / ˈʃɔrt nɪŋ, ˈʃɔr tn ɪŋ /

noun

• shortenings
  plural

1. butter, lard, or other fat, used to make pastry, bread, etc., short.

2. Phonetics. the act, process, or an instance of making or becoming short.

3. Linguistics.

   1. the act or process of dropping one or more syllables from a word or phrase to form a shorter word with the same meaning, as in forming piano from pianoforte or phone from telephone.

   2. clipped form.

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shortening British  

/ ˈʃɔːtənɪŋ /

noun

1. butter, lard, or other fat, used in a dough, cake mixture, etc, to make the mixture short

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• shortenings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of shortening

First recorded in 1535–45; shorten + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shortening shortenings

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

While many parents might be in favour of shortening the school summer holiday to four weeks, the same report by Parentkind found that only 24% of teachers supported the idea.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Younger eggs, she said, would likely have improved her IVF odds, potentially shortening the years it took to have her children, and reducing costs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

Friday’s stock-market action might have made for a shortening of memories.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026

Though my legs had not quite recovered, by shortening my stirrups and leaning back in the saddle, I could ride without too much discomfort.

From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood

“Fats and shortenings are absolutely critical to pies,” says Ernest Miller, research and development chef at Coast Packing Co., a major supplier of animal fats and shortenings for cooking, baking and frying based in Vernon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2017

Anna Wierzbicka, a linguistics professor at the Australian National University, has said the country’s love affair with such shortenings reflects cherished ideals like “mateship,” humor, informality and a dislike for “long words.”

From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2017

“You must like to decipher lousy handwriting, shortenings and a text without punctuation. You have to know the vocabulary of the 19th century,” Kutzer said.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 2, 2017

But the Food and Drug Administration had just threatened action against manufacturers who label shortenings and cooking oils as polyunsaturated, thus implying that they are good for the heart and arteries.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tyranny constrains the writer to shortenings of diameter which are increases of strength.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Albert Pike