Adjacent Words

Abridge definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ABRIDGE', v.t. abridj', [G. short, or its root, from the root of break or a verb of that family.]
1. To make shorter; to epitomize; to contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense in substance - used of writings.
Justin abridged the history of Trogus Pompeius.
2. To lessen; to diminish; as to abridge labor; to abridge power of rights.
3. To deprive; to cut off from; followed by of; as to abridge one of his rights, or enjoyments. to abridge from, is now obsolete or improper.
4. In algebra, to reduce a compound quantity or equation to its more simple expression. The equation thus abridged is called a formula.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened" [syn: abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract, reduce] [ant: dilate, elaborate, enlarge, expand, expatiate, exposit, expound, flesh out, lucubrate]
2: lessen, diminish, or curtail; "the new law might abridge our freedom of expression"

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (abridged; abridging) Etymology: Middle English abregen, from Anglo-French abreger, from Late Latin abbreviare, from Latin ad- + brevis short — more at brief Date: 14th century 1. a. archaic deprive b. to reduce in scope ; diminish <attempts to abridge the right of free speech> 2. to shorten in duration or extent <modern transportation that abridges distance> 3. to shorten by omission of words without sacrifice of sense ; condense Synonyms: see shorten • abridger noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 shorten (a book, film, etc.) by using fewer words or making deletions. 2 curtail (liberty). Derivatives: abridgable adj. abridger n. Etymology: ME f. OF abreg(i)er f. LL abbreviare ABBREVIATE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abridge A*bridge", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abridged; p. pr. & vb. n. Abridging.] [OE. abregen, OF. abregier, F. abr['e]ger, fr. L. abbreviare; ad + brevis short. See Brief and cf. Abbreviate.] 1. To make shorter; to shorten in duration; to lessen; to diminish; to curtail; as, to abridge labor; to abridge power or rights. ``The bridegroom . . . abridged his visit.'' --Smollett. She retired herself to Sebaste, and abridged her train from state to necessity. --Fuller. 2. To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense; as, to abridge a history or dictionary. 3. To deprive; to cut off; -- followed by of, and formerly by from; as, to abridge one of his rights.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Shorten, epitomize, condense, compress, make an abstract of. 2. Diminish, reduce, contract, curtail, lessen, retrench, cut down. See abbreviate. 3. Deprive of, dispossess of, divest of.

Moby Thesaurus

abbreviate, abstract, bereave, bleed, blot out, blue-pencil, bob, boil down, bowdlerize, brief, cancel, capsule, capsulize, censor, clip, compress, condense, contract, crop, cross out, curtail, cut, cut back, cut down, cut off, cut off short, cut short, damp, dampen, decrease, deduct, deflate, delete, depreciate, depress, deprive, deprive of, digest, diminish, disentitle, divest, dock, downgrade, drain, ease one of, edit, edit out, elide, epitomize, erase, expunge, expurgate, foreshorten, kill, lessen, lighten one of, limit, lower, milk, mine, minify, minimize, mow, narrow, nip, nutshell, omit, outline, pare, poll, pollard, prune, reap, recap, recapitulate, reduce, rescind, restrict, retrench, roll back, rub out, scale down, shave, shear, shorten, simplify, sketch, sketch out, slash, snub, step down, strike, strike off, strike out, stunt, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take away from, take from, take in, tap, telescope, trim, truncate, tune down, void