Overview of verb shorten

The verb shorten has 5 senses

• shorten -- (make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration; "He shortened his trip due to illness")


• abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract, reduce -- (reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened")


• shorten -- (make short or shorter; "shorten the skirt"; "shorten the rope by a few inches")


• shorten -- (become short or shorter; "In winter, the days shorten")


• bowdlerize, bowdlerise, expurgate, castrate, shorten -- (edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel")

Overview of adj shortened

The adj shortened has 4 senses

• sawed-off, sawn-off, shortened -- (cut short; "a sawed-off shotgun"; "a sawed-off broomstick"; "the shortened rope was easier to use")


• abbreviated, shortened, truncated -- (cut short in duration; "the abbreviated speech"; "her shortened life was clearly the result of smoking"; "an unsatisfactory truncated conversation")


• telescoped, 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")


• cut, shortened -- (with parts removed; "the drastically cut film")