abridge
Syllables: a·bridgeUK/əˈbɹɪd͡ʒ//əˈbɹɪd͡ʒ/
abridge verb: to deprive; to cut off.
Verb
abridge (third-person singular simple present abridges, present participle abridging, simple past and past participle abridged)
- To deprive; to cut off.
- To debar from.
- To make shorter; to shorten in duration or extent.
- She retired her self to Sebaste, and abridged her train from State to necessity.1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Book 2, Chapter 31, p. 85
- The bridegroom, perceiving his condition, abridged the visit […]1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC
- To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense.
- 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...1911, Samuel Johnson, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- 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."1891, Henry Melville, chapter 3, in Billy Budd
- Cut short; truncate.
- To curtail.
- He had his rights abridged by the crooked sheriff.
Proper noun capitalized: Abridge
Abridge
abridge meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
abridge in Hindi
- छोटा, संक्षिप्त बनाना, छाँटना, कम करना, संक्षिप्त करना, संक्षेप करना
abridge in Tamil
- சுருக்கு, குறை, தொகு, இழக்கச் செய், சிறிதாக்கு, சுருக்கி எழுது
abridge in Urdu
- کم کرنا, خلاصہ کرنا, مختصر کرنا
abridge in Bengali
- সংক্ষেপ করা
More languagesFewer languages
- abridge in Telugu
- సంగ్రహించు saṅgrahiñcu, క్రోడీకరించు krōḍīkariñcu
- abridge in Malayalam
- സംഗ്രഹിക്കുക, കുറയ്ക്കുക, എടുത്തുകളയുക, സംക്ഷിപ്തമാക്കുക
- abridge in Kannada
- ಅಡಕಮಾಡು, ಅಡಕಗೊಳಿಸು, ಕುಗ್ಗಿಸು, ದಾಟು ಮಾಡು
- abridge in Arabic
- قَصَّر qaṣṣar
Forms of abridge
| third-person singular present | abridges |
|---|---|
| present participle | abridging |
| past participle | abridged |
| past | abridged |
Origin of abridge
From Middle English abreggen, abregge, abrigge (“curtail, lessen”), from Old French abregier, abreger, from Late Latin abbreviō, abbreviāre (“make brief”). Doublet of abbreviate.
From Middle English Affebrigg, from Old English, from Æffa (personal name) + brycg (“bridge”). For the first element see Effingham.
Words formed from abridge
Words that rhyme with abridge
Questions about abridge
- What does abridge mean?
- Abridge means to deprive; to cut off.
- What is abridge in Hindi?
- Abridge in Hindi is छोटा, संक्षिप्त बनाना, छाँटना. See Abridge meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is abridge?
- Abridge can be a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce abridge?
- Abridge is pronounced /əˈbɹɪd͡ʒ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of abridge?
- The past tense of abridge is abridged.
Words near abridge in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: abridge (page history and authors); Abridge (page history and authors); abridge (Hindi Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abridge (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abridge (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abridge (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); క్రోడీకరించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); abridge (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); abridge (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-abridge.ogg.
Cite this entry: “abridge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/abridge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.