abbreviate

English

Etymology

From Latin abbreviātus, perfect passive participle of abbreviō (“abbreviate”), formed from ad + breviō (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪt
• (RP) IPA: /əˈbriːvieɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To make shorter; to shorten; to abridge; to reduce by means of contraction or omission, especially of words written or spoken.
   • It is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off. — Francis Bacon
2. (mathematics) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction.

Related terms

• abbreviation
• abbreviator

Translations

to make shorter

Arabic: إخْتَصَرَ (’ikhtáʂara) Bulgarian: съкращавам (bg), скъсявам (bg) Chinese: 为了缩写 (wèile suōxiě) Danish: forkorte (da) Dutch: afkorten, verkorten, inkorten Esperanto: mallongigi (eo) Estonian: lühendama (et) Finnish: lyhentää (fi) French: abréger (fr) German: kürzen (de), abkürzen (de) Greek: συντομέυω (syndomévo) Icelandic: skammstafa (is), stytta (is) Interlingua: abbreviar Italian: abbreviare (it) Japanese: 省略する (shōryaku surú); 短縮する (tanshuku suru); 略す (ryakusu); 短くする (mijikaku suru)

Korean: 생략하다 (ko) (省略하다, saengnyakhada), 약하다 (ko) (略하다, yakhada), 약생하다 (ko) (略省하다, yaksaenghada), 단축하다 (ko) (短縮하다, danchukhada) Latin: abbreviō (la) Macedonian: скратува (skratuva) Norwegian: forkorte (no) Novial: abrevia Portuguese: abreviar (pt) Romanian: scurta (ro) Russian: сокращать (sokraščát’) Scottish Gaelic: giorraich (gd) Spanish: abreviar (es) Swedish: förkorta (sv) Vietnamese: tóm tắt, viết tắt, rút ngắn lại

to reduce to lower terms

German: kürzen (de) Swedish: förkorta (sv)

Vietnamese: ước lược, rút gọn

Adjective

abbreviate (comparative more abbreviate, superlative most abbreviate)

1. (rare) Abbreviated; abridged; shortened.
   • The abbreviate form. — J. J. Earle
2. (biology) Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type.

Translations

abbreviated, abridged

Finnish: lyhennetty (fi)

biology: having one part relatively shorter

Finnish: lyhentynyt (fi)

Vietnamese: tương đối ngắn

Noun

abbreviate (plural abbreviates)

1. (obsolete) An abridgment.

Shorthand

• Gregg (Version: Centennial,Series 90,DJS,Simplified): a - b - r - e - v - ia - t

(Version: Anniversary,Pre-Anniversary): a - b - r - e - v

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Interlingua

Adjective

abbreviate (comparative plus abbreviate, superlative le plus abbreviate)

1. Being abbreviated.

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Italian

Verb

abbreviate

1. second-person plural present tense of abbreviare
2. second-person plural imperative of abbreviare

Anagrams

• abbeverati

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Latin

Verb

abbreviāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of abbreviō