SHORT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does short mean? 

• SHORT (noun)
  The noun SHORT has 3 senses:

1. the location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed

2. accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference

3. the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between second and third base

  Familiarity information: SHORT used as a noun is uncommon.

• SHORT (adjective)
  The adjective SHORT has 11 senses:

1. primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration

2. (primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length

3. low in stature; not tall

4. of insufficient quantity to meet a need

5. (of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range

6. not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices

7. of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration

8. less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so

9. lacking foresight or scope

10. tending to crumble or break into flakes due to a large amount of shortening

11. marked by rude or peremptory shortness

  Familiarity information: SHORT used as an adjective is familiar.

• SHORT (verb)
  The verb SHORT has 2 senses:

1. cheat someone by not returning him enough money

2. create a short circuit in

  Familiarity information: SHORT used as a verb is rare.

• SHORT (adverb)
  The adverb SHORT has 7 senses:

1. quickly and without warning

2. without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold

3. clean across

4. at some point or distance before a goal is reached

5. so as to interrupt

6. at a disadvantage

7. in a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner

  Familiarity information: SHORT used as an adverb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHORT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("short" is a kind of...):

parcel; parcel of land; piece of ground; piece of land; tract (an extended area of land)

Holonyms ("short" is a part of...):

baseball diamond; diamond; infield (the area of a baseball field that is enclosed by 3 bases and home plate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

short; short circuit

Hypernyms ("short" is a kind of...):

contact; tangency ((electronics) a junction where things (as two electrical conductors) touch or are in physical contact)

Holonyms ("short" is a part of...):

circuit; electric circuit; electrical circuit (an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow)

Derivation:

short (create a short circuit in)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between second and third base

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

short; shortstop

Hypernyms ("short" is a kind of...):

position ((in team sports) the role assigned to an individual player)

Holonyms ("short" is a member of...):

baseball team (a team that plays baseball)

• SHORT (adjective)

Declension: comparative and superlative

Sense 1

Meaning:

Primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration

Context example:

only a few short months

Similar:

abbreviated; shortened; truncated (cut short in duration)

short-run; short-term (relating to or extending over a limited period)

short-range (relating to the near future)

short-dated (of a gilt-edged security; having less than 5 years to run before redemption)

short and sweet (dealt with very quickly; to the point)

clipped ((of speech) having quick short sounds)

brief (of short duration or distance)

fleeting; fugitive; momentaneous; momentary (lasting for a markedly brief time)

Attribute:

duration; length (continuance in time)

Antonym:

long (primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified)

Derivation:

shortness (the property of being of short temporal extent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length

Context example:

a short toss

Similar:

curtal ((archaic) cut short)

truncate; truncated (terminating abruptly by having or as if having an end or point cut off)

shortened; telescoped (shortened by or as if by means of parts that slide one within another or are crushed one into another)

stubby (short and blunt)

snub (unusually short)

short-snouted (having a snout that is shorter than average)

short-range (limited to short distances)

shortish (somewhat short)

sawed-off; sawn-off; shortened (cut short)

close (used of hair or haircuts)

abbreviated; brief ((of clothing) very short)

Attribute:

length (the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place)

Antonym:

long (primarily spatial sense; of relatively great or greater than average spatial extension or extension as specified)

Derivation:

shortness (the property of being of short spatial extent)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Low in stature; not tall

Synonyms:

little; short

Context example:

a little man

Similar:

chunky; dumpy; low-set; squat; squatty; stumpy (short and thick; as e.g. having short legs and heavy musculature)

compact; heavyset; stocky; thick; thickset (having a short and solid form or stature)

half-length (representing only the upper half of the body)

pint-size; pint-sized; runty; sawed-off; sawn-off (well below average height)

short-stalked (of plants having relatively short stalks)

squab; squabby (short and fat)

Also:

low (literal meanings; being at or having a relatively small elevation or upward extension)

Attribute:

height; stature ((of a standing person) the distance from head to foot)

Antonym:

tall (great in vertical dimension; high in stature)

Derivation:

shortness (the property of being shorter than average stature)

shortness (the property of being truncated or short)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Of insufficient quantity to meet a need

Synonyms:

inadequate; jejune; poor; short

Context example:

the jejune diets of the very poor

Similar:

deficient; insufficient (of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement)

Derivation:

shortness (the condition of being short of something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range

Synonyms:

forgetful; short; unretentive

Context example:

a short memory

Also:

forgetful; mindless; unmindful (not mindful or attentive)

Derivation:

shortness (the condition of being short of something)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices

Context example:

short in cotton

Domain category:

finance (the branch of economics that studies the management of money and other assets)

Antonym:

long (holding securities or commodities in expectation of a rise in prices)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration

Context example:

the English vowel sounds in 'pat', 'pet', 'pit', 'pot', putt' are short

Domain category:

phonetics (the branch of acoustics concerned with speech processes including its production and perception and acoustic analysis)

Antonym:

long ((of speech sounds or syllables) of relatively long duration)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so

Synonyms:

light; scant; short

Context example:

regularly gives short weight

Similar:

deficient; insufficient (of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Lacking foresight or scope

Synonyms:

myopic; short; shortsighted; unforesightful

Context example:

myopic thinking

Similar:

improvident (not provident; not providing for the future)

Sense 10

Meaning:

Tending to crumble or break into flakes due to a large amount of shortening

Context example:

a short flaky pie crust

Similar:

breakable (capable of being broken or damaged)

Sense 11

Meaning:

Marked by rude or peremptory shortness

Synonyms:

brusk; brusque; curt; short

Context example:

the salesgirl was very short with him

Similar:

discourteous (showing no courtesy; rude)

Derivation:

shortness (an abrupt discourteous manner)

• SHORT (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cheat someone by not returning him enough money

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

short; short-change

Hypernyms (to "short" is one way to...):

bunco; con; defraud; diddle; goldbrick; hornswoggle; mulct; nobble; rook; scam; short-change; swindle; victimize (deprive of by deceit)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Create a short circuit in

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

short; short-circuit

Hypernyms (to "short" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

short (accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference)

• SHORT (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Quickly and without warning

Synonyms:

abruptly; dead; short; suddenly

Context example:

he stopped suddenly

Sense 2

Meaning:

Without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold

Context example:

he made his fortune by selling short just before the crash

Domain category:

finance (the branch of economics that studies the management of money and other assets)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Clean across

Context example:

the car's axle snapped short

Sense 4

Meaning:

At some point or distance before a goal is reached

Context example:

he fell short of our expectations

Sense 5

Meaning:

So as to interrupt

Context example:

She took him up short before he could continue

Sense 6

Meaning:

At a disadvantage

Synonyms:

short; unawares

Context example:

I was caught short

Sense 7

Meaning:

In a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner

Synonyms:

curtly; short; shortly

Context example:

he said shortly that he didn't like it

 Context examples 

Her temper was now shorter than ever; but he had become more patient than ever and more solicitous.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He stopped short, and caught both her hands as he put his question with a look that she did not soon forget.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but short.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

They were short of weight and in poor condition when they made Dawson, and should have had a ten days’ or a week’s rest at least.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“Why yes, I've took a short spell at The Willing Mind tonight,” said Mr. Peggotty.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

After a short pause, “It comes on faster and faster!” said Catherine, as she stood watching at a window.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Nothing can be more natural, said Sir Thomas, after a short deliberation; nor, were there no sister in the case, could anything, in my opinion, be more natural.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

After a short struggle, however, Charles Hayter seemed to quit the field.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I was: I know that; and you hinted a while ago at something which had happened in my absence:—nothing, probably, of consequence; but, in short, it has disturbed you.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In a short time he was standing close to me and listening with deep distress to the story which I told him.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)