abbreviate

Verb

abbreviate (third-person singular simple present abbreviates, present participle abbreviating, simple past and past participle abbreviated)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To shorten by omitting parts or details.
   • But it is one Thing, to Abbreuiate by Contracting, Another by Cutting off: […]1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Dispatch. XXV.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, pages 142–143
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To speak or write in a brief manner.
3. (transitive) To make shorter; to shorten (in time); to abridge; to shorten by ending sooner than planned.
   • But as delivery schedules have dwindled into hours, even the gigantic warehouse full of stuff in a central place such as the triangle is proving insufficient. Now, companies also need smaller distribution centres around the country, to respond rapidly to orders and to abbreviate the last mile as...2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
4. (transitive) To reduce a word or phrase by means of contraction or omission to a shorter recognizable form.
   • Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is more commonly known by its abbreviated form BSE.
   • Alana abbreviated "involuntarily celibate" to "invcel", until someone suggested that "incel" was easier to say.2018 August 29, Jim Taylor, “The woman who founded the 'incel' movement”, in BBC
5. (transitive) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction.

   Synonyms:

   simplify

Adjective

US/əˈbɹi.vi.ət/

abbreviate (comparative more abbreviate, superlative most abbreviate)

1. (obsolete) Abbreviated.
2. (obsolete) Abbreviated, abridged, shortened.
   • The curt form of gent as a less ceremonious substitute for the full expression of ‘gentleman,’ had once made considerable way, but its career was blighted in a court of justice. It is about twenty years ago that two young men, being brought before a London magistrate, described themselves as...1871, John Earle, The Philology of the English Tongue
3. Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type.

Noun

abbreviate (plural abbreviates)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) An abridgment.