Entry Word: short

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 having relatively little height <a lot of boys are shorter than the girls in middle school, but they quickly catch up by high school>

Synonyms little, low, low-lying

Related Words dwarf, dwarfish; petite, slight; diminutive, little, pint-size (or pint-sized), small, smallish; bantam, bitty, dinky, miniature, minimized, minute, puny, teeny, teeny-weeny, tiny, undersized, wee; dumpy, flat, scrubby, squat, squatty, stubby, stumpy, stunted

Near Antonyms elevated, lifted, raised, uplifted, upswept; high-rise, statuesque; gangling, gangly, lanky, rangy

Antonyms high, lofty, tall, towering

2 not lasting for a considerable time <fortunately for those of us in the hot sun, the graduation speech was short and to the point>

Synonyms brief, condensed, little

Related Words abbreviated, abridged, curtailed, cut-back, shortened; compact, condensed; abrupt, sudden; ephemeral, fleeting, momentary, short-lived, transient, transitory; impermanent; compendious, concise, crisp, epigrammatic, laconic, pithy, succinct, summary, terse; short-range, short-term

Near Antonyms endless, everlasting, interminable, persistent, unending; longish, overlong, prolonged, protracted; permanent; enlarged, expanded, supplemented; long-range, long-term

Antonyms extended, great, lengthy, long, long-lived, marathon

3 not coming up to a usual standard or meeting a particular need <regrettably, the art supplies are short this year, so you'll have to share>

Synonyms deficient, inadequate, insufficient, lacking, scarce, shy, wanting

Related Words hand-to-mouth, light, meager, niggardly, poor, scant, scanty, skimpy, slender, slim, spare, sparse, stingy; bare, mere, minimum; slight, small

Near Antonyms abundant, ample, bounteous, bountiful, copious, generous, liberal, plenteous, plentiful; enlarged, expanded, supplemented; abounding, overflowing, teeming; lavish, luxuriant, rich; big, considerable, hefty, jumbo, large, largish, oversize (or oversized), sizable (or sizeable), substantial, super

Antonyms adequate, enough, sufficient

4 having a texture that readily breaks into little pieces under pressure <short pastry> — see crisp 1