| means | (verb) make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration; "He shortened his trip due to illness"
shorten |
| means | (verb) make smaller; "He decreased his staff"
lessen, minify, decrease |
| means | (verb) make more concise; "condense the contents of a book into a summary"
concentrate, digest, condense |
| means | (verb) lessen the authority, dignity, or reputation of; "don't belittle your colleagues"
belittle, diminish |
| means | (verb) decrease gradually or bit by bit
pare, pare down |
| means | (verb) reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened"
shorten, reduce, abbreviate, contract, abridge, cut, foreshorten |
| means | (verb) cut down on; make a reduction in; "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits"
trim, cut down, cut, cut back, reduce, trim back, trim down, bring down |
| means | (verb) edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel"
castrate, expurgate, shorten, bowdlerise, bowdlerize |
| means | (verb) reduce in size; reduce physically; "Hot water will shrink the sweater"; "Can you shrink this image?"
reduce, shrink |
| means | (verb) decrease in size, extent, or range; "The amount of homework decreased towards the end of the semester"; "The cabin pressure fell dramatically"; "her weight fell to under a hundred pounds"; "his voice fell to a whisper"
fall, decrease, diminish, lessen |
| means | (verb) cook until very little liquid is left; "The cook reduced the sauce by boiling it for a long time"
reduce, boil down, concentrate |
| means | (verb) have a reducing effect; "This cuts into my earnings"
cut |
| means | (verb) make a reduction, as in one's workforce; "The company had to retrench"
retrench |
| means | (verb) become short or shorter; "In winter, the days shorten"
shorten |
| means | (verb) make shorter as if by cutting off; "truncate a word"; "Erosion has truncated the ridges of the mountains"
truncate, cut short |
| means | (verb) dismiss, usually for economic reasons; "She was laid off together with hundreds of other workers when the company downsized"
lay off, furlough |
| means | (verb) make short or shorter; "shorten the skirt"; "shorten the rope by a few inches"
shorten |
| means | (verb) terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent; "My speech was cut short"; "Personal freedom is curtailed in many countries"
cut short, curtail, clip |
| means | (verb) lose velocity; move more slowly; "The car decelerated"
slow up, slow, decelerate, retard, slow down |
| means | (verb) wither, as with a loss of moisture; "The fruit dried and shriveled"
shrivel up, wither, shrivel, shrink |
| means | (verb) shorten; "Abbreviate `New York' and write `NY'"
abbreviate |
| means | (verb) become smaller or draw together; "The fabric shrank"; "The balloon shrank"
shrink, contract |
| means | (verb) decrease in size, range, or extent; "His earnings shrank"; "My courage shrivelled when I saw the task before me"
shrivel, shrink |
| means | (verb) cut drastically; "Prices were slashed"
slash |
| means | (verb) weed out unwanted or unnecessary things; "We had to lose weight, so we cut the sugar from our diet"
rationalize, cut, rationalise, prune |
| means | (verb) create a short circuit in
short-circuit, short |
| means | (verb) compress or concentrate; "Congress condensed the three-year plan into a six-month plan"
condense, contract, concentrate |
| means | (verb) lessen, diminish, or curtail; "the new law might abridge our freedom of expression"
abridge |
| means | (verb) remove water from; "condense the milk"
condense |
| means | (verb) place restrictions on; "curtail drinking in school"
restrict, curb, cut back, curtail |
| means | (verb) cut and assemble the components of; "edit film"; "cut recording tape"
cut, edit out, edit |
| means | (verb) be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce should reduce to one cup"
decoct, reduce, concentrate, boil down |