short·en

(shôr′tn)

v. short·ened, short·en·ing, short·ens

v.tr.

1. To make short or shorter.

2. To reduce in force, efficacy, or intensity.

3. To add shortening to (dough) so as to make flaky.

4. Nautical To take in (a sail, sails, or part of a sail) so that less canvas is exposed to the wind, thereby reducing speed: shortened sail in advance of the storm.

v.intr.

To become short or shorter.

short′en·er n.

Synonyms: shorten, abbreviate, abridge, curtail, truncate
These verbs mean to reduce something in length, duration, or extent: shortened his life by smoking; abbreviated the speech for the television news show; abridged the book as an essay; curtailed their visit by a week; truncated the conversation by saying goodbye.

Antonym: lengthen

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	shortened - cut short; "a sawed-off shotgun"; "a sawed-off broomstick"; "the shortened rope was easier to use" sawed-off, sawn-off short - (primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length; "short skirts"; "short hair"; "the board was a foot short"; "a short toss"
	2.	shortened - cut short in duration; "the abbreviated speech"; "her shortened life was clearly the result of smoking"; "an unsatisfactory truncated conversation" truncated, abbreviated short - primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration; "a short life"; "a short flight"; "a short holiday"; "a short story"; "only a few short months"
	3.	shortened - shortened by or as if by means of parts that slide one within another or are crushed one into another; "a miracle that anyone survived in the telescoped cars"; "years that seemed telescoped like time in a dream" telescoped short - (primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length; "short skirts"; "short hair"; "the board was a foot short"; "a short toss"
	4.	shortened - with parts removed; "the drastically cut film" cut abridged - (used of texts) shortened by condensing or rewriting; "an abridged version"

Translations

accorciato

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

York came round to our heads and shortened the rein himself -- one hole, I think; every little makes a difference, be it for better or worse, and that day we had a steep hill to go up.

Day by day, hole by hole, our bearing reins were shortened, and instead of looking forward with pleasure to having my harness put on, as I used to do, I began to dread it.

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"But there would be," cried Bruno, "if the Professor shortened it up for us!"

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Thus, if we are to take the cause as one event and the effect as another, both must be shortened indefinitely.

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In the account of Abyssinia, and the continuation, the authors have been followed with more exactness, and as few passages appeared either insignificant or tedious, few have been either shortened or omitted.

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I do not think, he said, that the way could have been shortened.

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There were only three--the jib, foresail, and mainsail; and, patched, shortened, and distorted, they were a ridiculously ill-fitting suit for so trim a craft as the Ghost.

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He was to be shortened the next week, and Anne felt ready to cry at the thought of it.

Anne and Leslie had another cry the next week when they shortened Little Jem.

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So we shortened up one of the calico gowns, and I turned up my trouser-legs to my knees and got into it.

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Roads will everywhere be shortened, and kept in better order; accommodations for travelers will be multiplied and meliorated; an interior navigation on our eastern side will be opened throughout, or nearly throughout, the whole extent of the thirteen States.

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For a time that scared me; but any concession would have shortened our chance of escape beyond estimating.

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