abbreviate

English

Etymology 1

Either from Middle English abbreviaten, from Latin abbreviātus, perfect passive participle of abbreviō (“to shorten”), formed from ad + breviō (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”) or back-formation from abbreviation.[1] See also abridge.

Pronunciation

Verb

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

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To shorten by omitting parts or details. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century.][2]
    • 1597, Francis Bacon, Essays:
      It is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off.
  2. (obsolete, intransitive) To speak or write in a brief manner. [Attested from the late 16th century until the early 17th century.][2]
  3. (transitive) To make shorter; to shorten (in time); to abridge; to shorten by ending sooner than planned. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][2]
  4. (transitive) To reduce a word or phrase by means of contraction or omission to a shorter recognizable form. [First attested in the late 16th century.][2]
  5. (transitive, mathematics) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Adjective

abbreviate (comparative more abbreviate, superlative most abbreviate)

  1. (obsolete) Abbreviated; abridged; shortened. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 17th century][2]
    • 1892, J. J. Earle, The philology of the English tongue:
      The abbreviate form has never been able to recover that shock.
  2. (biology) Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type. [First attested in the mid 19th century.][2]
Translations

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /əˈbɹi.vi.eɪt/

Noun

abbreviate (plural abbreviates)

  1. (obsolete) An abridgment. [Mid 16th century.][2]
Translations

References

  1. ↑ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 2
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], →ISBN), page 3

Interlingua

Adjective

abbreviate (comparative plus abbreviate, superlative le plus abbreviate)

  1. Being abbreviated.

Italian

Verb

abbreviate

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

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

abbreviāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of abbreviō

Scots

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˈbriːvɪət/

Noun

abbreviate (plural abbreviates)

  1. (law) an abstract, an abridgement

Usage notes

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