EN

Synonyms for shorten

29 synonyms
6 antonyms
2 meanings

verb

Most common

reduce cut short curtail contract castrate expurgate

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Reduce

reduce, cut short, curtail, contract, abbreviate, abridge, condense, lessen, cut, cut down, diminish, compress, truncate, lower, prune, pare, trim, retrench, scrimp, dock, epitomize UK US, epitomise UK, foreshorten

2. Castrate

castrate, expurgate, bowdlerize, bowdlerise UK

Other

circumscribe, shortify

Antonyms

lengthen, extend, widen

All antonyms of shorten →

Definitions

v. 1
To make shorter; to abbreviate.
v. 2
To become shorter.

Related words

Word family: shortening
Phrases: shorten up shorten down

Forms

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

Example sentences

curtail Their efforts to curtail spending didn't quite succeed.
abbreviate We abbreviate Sunday to Sun.
abridge The student decided to abridge his paper by taking out unnecessary details.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
shorten		steady
curtail		falling
abbreviate		steady
abridge		falling

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

By length

3 letters: cut¹
4 letters: dock¹, trim¹, pare¹
5 letters: lower², prune¹
6 letters: reduce², lessen², scrimp¹
7 letters: curtail², abridge²
8 letters: contract², diminish³, compress², condense², castrate², truncate², retrench², shortify
9 letters: epitomize⁴, epitomise, expurgate
10 letters: abbreviate⁴, bowdlerize, bowdlerise
11 letters: foreshorten
12 letters: circumscribe³

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (lower² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: écourter
Italiano: abbreviare
Español: acortar
Deutsch: abkürzen
Català: acurtar