shortening
[ shawrt-ning, shawr-tn-ing ]
/ ˈʃɔrt nɪŋ, ˈʃɔr tn ɪŋ /
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noun
butter, lard, or other fat, used to make pastry, bread, etc., short.
Phonetics. the act, process, or an instance of making or becoming short.
Linguistics.
- 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.
- clipped form.
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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
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British Dictionary definitions for shortening
shortening
/ (ˈʃɔːtənɪŋ) /
noun
butter, lard, or other fat, used in a dough, cake mixture, etc, to make the mixture short
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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