EN

Synonyms for abbreviate

23 synonyms
13 antonyms
1 meaning

verb

Most common

shorten reduce abridge contract

All synonyms

Verb

1. Shorten

shorten, reduce, abridge, contract, condense, epitomize UK US, epitomise UK, curtail, compress, abstract, cut short, edit out, cut, cut down, edit, prune, retrench, dock, foreshorten, truncate, diminish, snub

Other

Antonyms

extend, produce, expand

All antonyms of abbreviate →

Definitions

v. 1
To make shorter; to shorten (in time); to abridge; to shorten by ending sooner than planned.

Related words

Word family: abbreviatable abbreviation abbreviator

Forms

Past participle: abbreviated
e.g. abbreviated → shortened, reduced, abridged, contracted…

Example sentences

shorten High operating temperatures shorten lubricant life.
condense It's hard to condense this into a short article.
abridge The student decided to abridge his paper by taking out unnecessary details.
simplify Simplify your life. Take advice from native speakers.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
abbreviate		steady
shorten		steady
condense		steady
abridge		falling
foreshorten		falling
simplify		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: cut¹
4 letters: edit², dock¹, snub¹
5 letters: prune¹
6 letters: reduce²
7 letters: shorten², curtail², abridge²
8 letters: contract², abstract², diminish³, simplify³, compress², condense², truncate², retrench²
9 letters: epitomize⁴, epitomise
11 letters: foreshorten

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (edit² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: abréger
Italiano: accorciare
Español: resumir
Deutsch: summieren
Català: resumir