abbreviate
/əˈbriːvɪeɪt
/verb [with object]
1Shorten (a word, phrase, or text): ‘network’ is often abbreviated to ‘net’...
- I've got to agree with her about people abbreviating words when sending text messages.
- In order to save typing, many people will abbreviate common words and phrases.
- When there are lots of documents to be signed, I choose to abbreviate my signature.
Synonyms
shorten, reduce, cut, cut short/down, contract, condense, compress, abridge, truncate, clip, crop, pare down, prune, shrink, constrict, telescope, curtail;
summarize, abstract, precis, synopsize, digest, edit
1.1Shorten the duration of; cut short: I decided to abbreviate my stay in Cambridge...
- Our military decision-making process was abbreviated.
- Training hours are from 6 - 9 a.m. with Turfway abbreviating the period because it is concluding work on a new paddock and winner's circle.
- Hodges had his stay abbreviated but will return in March for a couple of months.
Origin
Late Middle English: from late Latin abbreviat- 'shortened', from the verb abbreviare, from Latin brevis 'short'.
brief from Middle English:
Briefs or underpants, which were first worn in the 1930s, are literally ‘shorts’. Brief comes from the Latin word brevis, meaning ‘short’, a root shared by abbreviate (Late Middle English) and the musical note breve (Late Middle English), which used to mean a short note.