To shorten means to make something shorter or less long. You might shorten a rope by cutting off a section, shorten a speech by removing unnecessary parts, or shorten a trip by taking a faster route. When your teacher asks you to shorten an essay from 500 words to 300, you have to trim it down while keeping the important ideas.

The word works with physical things (shortening a pair of pants that are too long) and with time (shortening a meeting from an hour to thirty minutes). Sometimes things shorten on their own: days shorten in winter as the sun sets earlier, and a candle shortens as it burns.

People also use shorten when they create abbreviations or nicknames. “Massachusetts” shortens to “Mass.,” “refrigerator” shortens to “fridge,” and “Christopher” might shorten to “Chris.” In these cases, shortening makes words easier to say or write without losing their meaning.

The opposite of shorten is lengthen or extend. When you shorten something well, you keep what matters most and remove only what isn't needed.