\ ə-ˈbrij 
\
\abridged; abridging
Definition of abridge
1 : to shorten by omission of words without sacrifice of sense : condense abridge a novel an abridged dictionary
2 : to shorten in duration or extent
Tess wished to abridge her visit as much as possible …— Thomas Hardy
Keep scrolling for more
Examples of abridge in a Sentence
abridge a dictionary by omitting rare words
the library's hours have been drastically abridged to cut costs
Recent Examples on the Web Indeed, at the most significant moments in African-American history, the Court reflected the most reactionary elements of the culture in its efforts to abridge, degrade, or simply eliminate the rights of African-Americans.
—
Keeanga-yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker, "The Case for Ending the Supreme Court as We Know It," 25 Sep. 2020 A few hours later, the trio would depart for the airport to board a Sunday night flight back to Waters’ native Portland, his season abridged by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
—
Hillel Kuttler, oregonlive, "Portland’s Dominic Waters returns home as his pro basketball season in Israel remains in limbo," 30 Mar. 2020 Some of Avila’s answers have been abridged for length.
—
Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Tigers GM Al Avila encouraged: ‘Our team has actually taken a big step’," 8 Mar. 2020 But the First Amendment prohibits the government, not private companies, from abridging people's free speech rights.
—
Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Sorry, Tulsi Gabbard, Google can’t violate the First Amendment," 5 Mar. 2020 The 19th amendment was a transformative constitutional amendment that guaranteed that the right of citizens to vote would not be denied or abridged by the government because of a person’s gender.
—
Sam Boyer, cleveland, "Powell makes a difference; presented with Paul Harris Fellowship: Whit & Whimsey," 14 Feb. 2020 To many of Zuckerberg’s critics, however, the First Amendment—which prohibits the government from abridging free speech—has nothing at all to do with a corporation like Facebook.
—
Wired, "How Facebook Gets the First Amendment Backward," 7 Nov. 2019 The result was an international hit, which did well even in the United States, where a dubbed and abridged version won an Oscar.
—
Noel Murray, latimes.com, "New video: ‘Transit’ is another provocative thriller from director Christian Petzold," 28 June 2019 That amendment had a clause that finally said: State laws (in addition to federal laws) can’t abridge the rights of U.S. citizens.
—
Lillian Cunningham, Washington Post, "Episode 16 of the Constitutional podcast: ‘The First Amendment’," 29 Jan. 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abridge.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for abridge
abridge
verb\ ə-ˈbrij \
\abridged; abridging
Kids Definition of abridge
: to shorten by leaving out some parts
abridge a dictionary
abridge
transitive verb\ ə-ˈbrij \
\abridged; abridging
Legal Definition of abridge
: to diminish or reduce in scope
no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States — U.S. Constitution amend. XIV
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on abridge
What made you want to look up abridge? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Farm Idioms Quiz
- What does 'poke' refer to in the expression 'pig in a poke'?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games
Share abridge
Time Traveler for abridge
The first known use of abridge was in the 14th century
See more words from the same century