abbreviate
Plural: abbreviates
Verb
- reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
- shorten
- "Abbreviate `New York' and write `NY'"
- To shorten by omitting parts or details.
- To speak or write in a brief manner.
- To make shorter; to shorten (in time); to abridge; to shorten by ending sooner than planned.
- To reduce a word or phrase by means of contraction or omission to a shorter recognizable form.
- To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction.
Adj
- Abbreviated.
- Abbreviated, abridged, shortened.
- Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type.
Noun
- An abridgment.
Examples
- Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is more commonly known by its abbreviated form BSE.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English abbreviaten, from abbreviat(e) (“abbreviated”, used as the participle of abbreviaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin abbreviātus, perfect passive participle of abbreviō (“to shorten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), formed from ab- + breviō (“to shorten”), from brevis (“short”). Alternatively, a back-formation from abbreviation. Doublet of abridge.
Synonyms
abridge, contract, cut, foreshorten, reduce, shorten, compress, condense, curtail, epitomize, simplify
Antonyms
expand, amplify, dilate, elongate, enlarge, expatiate, extend, lengthen, produce, prolong, stretch
Scrabble Score: 17
abbreviate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordabbreviate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
abbreviate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary