SHORTENED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shortened mean? 

• SHORTENED (adjective)
  The adjective SHORTENED has 4 senses:

1. cut short

2. cut short in duration

3. shortened by or as if by means of parts that slide one within another or are crushed one into another

4. with parts removed

  Familiarity information: SHORTENED used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHORTENED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut short

Synonyms:

sawed-off; sawn-off; shortened

Context example:

the shortened rope was easier to use

Similar:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cut short in duration

Synonyms:

abbreviated; shortened; truncated

Context example:

an unsatisfactory truncated conversation

Similar:

short (primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Shortened by or as if by means of parts that slide one within another or are crushed one into another

Synonyms:

shortened; telescoped

Context example:

years that seemed telescoped like time in a dream

Similar:

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

With parts removed

Synonyms:

cut; shortened

Context example:

the drastically cut film

Similar:

abridged ((used of texts) shortened by condensing or rewriting)

 Context examples 

A congenital malformation in which the upper portion of a limb is either shortened or absent.

(Phocomelia, NCI Thesaurus)

Eliminating or increasing Cdk5 activity beyond normal levels shortened the lives of the flies to about 30 days.

(NIH scientists search for the clocks behind aging brain disorders, National Institutes of Health)

A shortened form of a word or phrase.

(Abbreviation, NCI Thesaurus)

If the initial substrate was a long chain fatty acid, then the resulting dicarboxylic acid can enter the beta-oxidation pathway to be shortened at both ends of the molecule at the same time.

(Omega-Oxidation of Fatty Acids Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

After a silence of some minutes she observed—"With her constitution she should have lived to a good old age: her life was shortened by trouble."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In the hours that had passed, the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible were shortened.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In each cycle, a fatty acid is progressively shortened by two carbons as it is oxidized and its energy captured by the reduced energy carriers NADH and FADH2.

(Beta-Oxidation of Fatty Acids Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The residence time (presence) of MJO clouds have shortened over the Indian Ocean by 3—4 days and increased over the west Pacific by 5—6 days.

(Global disasters linked to warming Indo-Pacific seas, SciDev.Net)

A familiar or shortened form of a proper name.

(Nickname, NCI Thesaurus)

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.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)