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# shorten

«shorten» in Mova's school dictionary: **to make it shorter in length, like shortening trousers or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (shorten, shortens, shortened, shortening)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To shorten something is to make it shorter in length, like shortening trousers or a rope. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#m1)

2) To shorten something is to make it last less time, like shortening a lesson. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#m2)

3) To shorten a word or name is to make it smaller, like «Benjamin» shortened to «Ben». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In writing lessons, pupils shorten long sentences to make them clearer and learn that «info» is a shortened form of «information». In maths, shortening a length means subtracting from it. In everyday life, days shorten in autumn and a tailor shortens clothes.

### examples

- Mum shortened my trousers because they were too long. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x1)
- The rain shortened our game by ten minutes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x2)
- Can you shorten this sentence? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x3)
- «Elizabeth» is often shortened to «Liz». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x4)
- The days shorten as winter comes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x5)
- If you shorten a 50 cm ribbon by 15 cm, it is 35 cm long. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x6)
- We shortened the rope so the swing was higher. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x7)
- And as they went to lay the foundation-stone, Gobborn Seer said to Jack, "Can't you shorten the way for me?" [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/#x8)

### note

Regular verb: past «shortened». It is short + -en, meaning «make shorter». In maths, «shorten by» means subtract that amount; «shorten to» gives the new length. Opposite: «lengthen». «Shortening» is also a cooking fat used in baking (a noun).

### In the corpora

- [Bones cannot move themselves; muscles move them, and a muscle can do only one thing: shorten and pull.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/360-muscles-and-joints-by-name-biceps-triceps-knees-elbows-and-the-busiest-muscles/0/)
- [In parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire "the" is shortened to t' ("Put t'kettle on").](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/11/)
- [Taking vitamin C every day does not stop most people catching colds; it might shorten a cold slightly in some studies.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/7-colds-and-flu/16/)
- [People live longer where there is clean water, enough food, good doctors and peace; poverty and war shorten lives.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/14/)
- [Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.1117/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «shorten» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shorten/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.