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abridge. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
abridge, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
abridge in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
abridge you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English abreggen, abregge, abrigge (“curtail, lessen”), from Old French abregier, abreger, from Late Latin abbreviō, abberiāre (“make brief”). Doublet of abbreviate.
Pronunciation
Verb
abridge (third-person singular simple present abridges, present participle abridging, simple past and past participle abridged)
- (transitive, archaic) To deprive; to cut off.
- (transitive, archaic, rare) To debar from.
- (transitive) To make shorter; to shorten in duration or extent.
1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Book 2, Chapter 31, p. 85:She retired her self to Sebaste, and abridged her train from State to necessity.
- (transitive) To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense.
1911, Samuel Johnson, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:It was still necessary for the man who had been formerly saluted by the highest authority as dictator of the English language to supply his wants by constant toil. He abridged his Dictionary. He proposed to bring out an edition of Shakespeare by subscription, and many subscribers sent in their names and laid down their money; but he soon found the task so little to his taste that he turned to more attractive employments.
1891, Henry Melville, chapter 3, in Billy Budd:Such an episode in the Island's grand naval story her naval historians naturally abridge; one of them (G.P.R. James) candidly acknowledging that fain would he pass it over did not "impartiality forbid fastidiousness."
- (transitive) Cut short; truncate.
- (transitive) To curtail.
He had his rights abridged by the crooked sheriff.
Usage notes
- (deprive): Usually used with to or sometimes with from as, to abridge someone of his rights.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to make shorter
- Arabic: قَصَّر (ar) (qaṣṣar)
- Belarusian: скарача́ць impf (skaračácʹ), скараці́ць pf (skaracícʹ)
- Bulgarian: съкращавам (bg) (sǎkraštavam), скъсявам (bg) (skǎsjavam)
- Czech: zkrátit (cs) pf, krátit (cs) impf
- Danish: forkorte (da), sammendrage
- Dutch: beperken (nl), verkorten (nl), inkorten (nl), bekorten (nl)
- Finnish: lyhentää (fi), typistää (fi), supistaa (fi)
- French: abréger (fr)
- German: verkürzen (de), kürzen (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient: συντέμνω (suntémnō)
- Hungarian: megrövidít (hu), megkurtít (hu), rövidít (hu), kurtít (hu)
- Italian: accorciare (it), abbreviare (it), ridurre (it)
- Latin: abbreviō
- Maori: whakapoto
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: forkorte, sammendra
- Portuguese: abreviar (pt), encurtar (pt)
- Russian: сокраща́ть (ru) (sokraščátʹ), укора́чивать (ru) (ukoráčivatʹ), усека́ть (ru) (usekátʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: giorraich
- Serbo-Croatian: skraćívati, skratiti (sh)
- Spanish: abreviar (es), condensar (es), compendiar (es)
- Ukrainian: скоро́чувати impf (skoróčuvaty), скороти́ти pf (skorotýty)
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to shorten or contract by using fewer words
- Belarusian: скарача́ць impf (skaračácʹ), скараці́ць pf (skaracícʹ)
- Bulgarian: съкращавам (bg) (sǎkraštavam)
- Danish: forkorte (da), sammendrage
- Dutch: verkorten (nl), inkorten (nl)
- Finnish: lyhentää (fi)
- French: abréger (fr)
- German: verkürzen (de)
- Hungarian: rövidít (hu)
- Ido: abreviar (io)
- Italian: abbreviare (it)
- Maori: whakapoto
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: forkorte, sammendra
- Portuguese: abreviar (pt), resumir (pt)
- Russian: сокраща́ть (ru) (sokraščátʹ), уменьша́ть (ru) (umenʹšátʹ), сумми́ровать (ru) (summírovatʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: giorraich
- Serbo-Croatian: skraćívati, скраћи́вати
- Spanish: abreviar (es), resumir (es)
- Ukrainian: скоро́чувати impf (skoróčuvaty), скороти́ти pf (skorotýty)
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Translations to be checked
References
- ^ Laurence Urdang (editor), The Random House College Dictionary (Random House, 1984 , →ISBN), page 5
- ^ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 , →ISBN), page 6
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abridge”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 8.
- ^ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 , →ISBN), page 4
Anagrams