| verb | make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration “He shortened his trip due to illness” |
| verb | reduce in scope while retaining essential elements “The manuscript must be shortened” |
| verb | make short or shorter “shorten the skirt” |
| verb | become short or shorter “In winter, the days shorten” |
| verb | edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate “bowdlerize a novel” |
| adjective | cut short “a sawed-off shotgun” |
| adjective | cut short in duration “the abbreviated speech” |
| adjective | shortened by or as if by means of parts that slide one within another or are crushed one into another “a miracle that anyone survived in the telescoped cars” |
| adjective | with parts removed “the drastically cut film” |
| shortener | noun | any agent that shortens |
| abridgement | noun | a shortened version of a written work |
| abridger | noun | one who shortens or abridges or condenses a written work |
| abbreviator | noun | one who shortens or abridges or condenses a written work |
| contraction | noun | the act of decreasing (something) in size or volume or quantity or scope |
| shortening | noun | act of decreasing in length |
| bowdlerization | noun | written material that has been bowdlerized |
| bowdlerizer | noun | a person who edits a text by removing obscene or offensive words or passages |
| bowdlerisation | noun | written material that has been bowdlerized |
| Bowdler | noun | English editor who in 1818 published an expurgated edition of the works of Shakespeare (1754-1825) |
| bowdleriser | noun | a person who edits a text by removing obscene or offensive words or passages |
| expurgation | noun | the deletion of objectionable parts from a literary work |
| expurgator | noun | a person who edits a text by removing obscene or offensive words or passages |
| castration | noun | the deletion of objectionable parts from a literary work |