An abridgment is a shortened version of a book, speech, or other work that keeps the most important parts while removing less essential details. When publishers create an abridgment of a long novel, they cut scenes and descriptions that slow the story down while preserving the main plot and characters. A three-hour speech might be abridged into a twenty-minute version that captures the key arguments without every example and tangent.

Abridgments differ from summaries: a summary tells you about a book in your own words, while an abridgment is still the original work, just condensed. Many classic novels have abridged versions for younger readers. The Count of Monte Cristo, for instance, runs over 1,000 pages in its complete form, but an abridgment might cut it to 300 pages by removing subplots and lengthy descriptions of 19th-century France.

You might see “unabridged” on audiobook covers, promising the complete, full-length version with nothing removed. Whether an abridgment improves or harms a work depends on how skillfully it's done. A good abridgment preserves what matters most. A poor one might cut the very passages that made the original special.