curtail
UK/kɜːˈteɪl//kɚˈteɪl/
curtail verb: to cut short the tail of (an animal).
Verb
curtail (third-person singular simple present curtails, present participle curtailing, simple past and past participle curtailed)
- To cut short the tail of (an animal).
- Curtailing horses procured long horse-hair.
- To shorten or abridge the duration of; to bring an end to; to truncate.
- When the audience grew restless, the speaker curtailed her speech.
- Although British involvement in the slave trade prior to 1807 cannot be denied, or its effects diminished, it is also a fact that the Royal Navy was pretty much the only force in the world in the 19th century with the numbers, drive, willingness, firepower, and capability to curtail the global...2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 11:37 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024
- Synonyms:
- abbreviate
- To limit or restrict; to keep in check.
- This is the rump of the C.L.C. branch to Southport Lord Street, which lost its passenger services beyond Aintree from January 7, 1952, whereupon the timetable between Gateacre and Aintree was greatly curtailed.1960 December, “Talking of Trains: Branch report”, in Trains Illustrated, page 708
- The current Israeli government has been working to curtail and eliminate critical voices within Israeli society in recent years, particularly those fighting to end the occupation and expose human rights violations against Palestinians and marginalized communities.2018, “Israeli gov't is trying to defund +972 Magazine, report says”, in +972 Magazine
- Synonyms:
- behedge
Noun
curtail (plural curtails)
- A scroll termination, as of a step, etc.
curtail meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
curtail in Tamil
- உரிமையை இழக்கச் செய், குறை, சுருக்கு, நிறுத்து, வெட்டிக்குறை, துண்டி
curtail in Urdu
- گھٹانا, کاٹنا, کم کرنا, خلاصہ کرنا, مختصر کرنا
curtail in Bengali
- হ্রাস করা, ছাঁটাই করা
curtail in Malayalam
- കുറച്ചുകളയുക, ചുരുക്കുക, വെട്ടിച്ചുരുക്കുക, സംക്ഷേപിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- curtail in Kannada
- ಒರಟು, ಕಟು, ಕಡಿಮೆಮಾಡು, ಮೊಟಕುಗೊಳಿಸು
Examples of curtail in a sentence
- With its government funding curtailed, the gun registry became an orphan program.
- The newly-appointed border czar is expected to heavily curtail illegal immigration.
- Alleygating has been shown to work. A number of criminal or anti-social acts can be curtailed or eliminated if security gates are installed.
Synonyms of curtail
Forms of curtail
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | curtails |
| present participle | curtailing |
| past participle | curtailed |
| past | curtailed |
| Noun | |
| plural | curtails |
Origin of curtail
Alteration of curtal, from Old French courtault (“which has been shortened”), itself from court (“short”) (from Latin curtus) + -ault
Words formed from curtail
Phrases with curtail
Words that rhyme with curtail
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- veil
- pale
- avail
- wale
- whale
- bail
- hail
- yale
- bale
- snail
- travail
- brail
- exhale
- frail
- jail
- prevail
- swale
- vail
- wail
- derail
- dwale
- entail
- flail
- Gail
- gayle
- impale
- kale
- quail
- regale
- spale
- thumbnail
- white whale
- ale
- drail
- gale
- inhale
- retail
- shale
- tael
- unveil
- ail
- all hail
- assail
- ayel
- beyond the pale
- braille
- cakes and ale
- camail
Questions about curtail
- What does curtail mean?
- Curtail means to cut short the tail of (an animal).
- What is curtail in Tamil?
- Curtail in Tamil is உரிமையை இழக்கச் செய், குறை, சுருக்கு. See Curtail meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is curtail?
- Curtail can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce curtail?
- Curtail is pronounced /kɜːˈteɪl/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of curtail?
- The past tense of curtail is curtailed.
Words near curtail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: curtail (page history and authors); curtail (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); curtail (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Curtail (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); curtail (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); curtail (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-curtail.ogg.
Cite this entry: “curtail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/curtail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.