Definition of ABBREVIATING

Choose the Right Synonym for abbreviate

shorten, curtail, abbreviate, abridge, retrench mean to reduce in extent. shorten implies reduction in length or duration. shorten a speech curtail adds an implication of cutting that in some way deprives of completeness or adequacy. ceremonies curtailed because of rain abbreviate implies a making shorter usually by omitting some part. using an abbreviated title abridge implies a reduction in compass or scope with retention of essential elements and a relative completeness in the result. the abridged version of the novel retrench suggests a reduction in extent or costs of something felt to be excessive. declining business forced the company to retrench

Did You Know?

Abbreviate and abridge both mean "to make shorter," so it probably will come as no surprise that both derive from the Latin verb brevis, meaning "short." Abbreviate first appeared in print in English in the 15th century and derives from abbreviatus, the past participle of Late Latin abbreviare, which in turn can be traced back to brevis. Abridge, which appeared a century earlier, also comes from abbreviare but took a side trip through Anglo-French before arriving in Middle English as abregen. Brevis is also the ancestor of English brief itself, as well as brevity and breviary ("a prayer book" or "a brief summary"), among others.

Examples of abbreviate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Jamboree has had holiday overlays and even abbreviated its songs. — Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, "Disney World: Revisiting the Tiki Room birds, Country Bears," 9 July 2019 Take any organism on earth, and its DNA and RNA have four nucleotide bases, or letters (usually abbreviated as A, T, C and G in DNA; in RNA, another base, U, takes the place of T). — Quanta Magazine, "Is a Bigger Genetic Code Better? Get Ready to Find Out," 2 Jan. 2018 In the 2000s, after more than 30 years of success with medical health aides (sometimes abbreviated as CHAPs) in rural communities, Tribal health care leaders and providers started to wonder: Why not expand to dental care? — Anchorage Daily News, "The living legacy of Alaska’s community health aides," 4 June 2019 The assessment was based on a variety of evidence that not only implicated the institute, which in Russian is abbreviated as CNIIHM, but also a specific professor who works there. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, "Russia was likely behind dangerous critical infrastructure attack, report says," 24 Oct. 2018 The field is called computational fluid dynamics, often abbreviated as CFD. — Lee Phillips, Ars Technica, "Turbulence, the oldest unsolved problem in physics," 10 Oct. 2018 In Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, the species that causes most red tides is Karenia brevis, often abbreviated as K. brevis. — James Rogers, Fox News, "Red tide crisis: The science behind the toxic algae bloom on Florida's Gulf Coast," 15 Aug. 2018 The middle portion is decidedly the best, and the sections that bookend it might easily have been abbreviated. — Harold Holzer, WSJ, "Burning Down the South," 7 June 2018 The Eagles also practiced at the far end of one field, many yards from where the media was permitted to stand, so today’s notes will be abbreviated and strictly in the form of a running diary. — Jeff Mclane, Philly.com, "Eagles practice observations: Carson Wentz's arm strength; Philly Special redux; quarterback golf," 14 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abbreviate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.