喜樂美語
  1. 1vB1/ˈʃɔːrtn/ · /ˈʃɔːtn/縮短

    to make something shorter, or to become shorter.

    示範例句 · Example

    Mei’s full name is Meilin, but she shortens it to Mei at school.

    逐字美的全名是美玲，但她在學校把它縮短成美。

    「shorten」是「把某樣東西變短」或「自己變短」的動詞——可以講長度（褲子、繩子），也可以講篇幅（文章、句子），也可以講時間（等待、白天）。常見說法：shorten something to…（把名字縮短成短稱）、get trousers shortened、the days are shortening。跟 cut / cut down 接近：cut 比較像「整段拿掉」；condense 是「用更少的字講同樣的意思」。核心畫面可以想成：從長的東西裡拿掉一截，讓它變短。

    常見搭配

    • shorten something to something

      把…縮短成…

      change a longer name or form into a shorter one

      His name is Lawrence, but it's usually shortened to Larry.

    • get something shortened

      請人把…改短

      ask someone to make clothes or fabric shorter

      Mum took my school skirt to get it shortened.

    • shorten a sentence / essay

      縮短句子／文章

      make writing shorter by removing some words or parts

      You can improve your writing by shortening some of these long sentences.

    • shorten the time / period

      縮短時間／期間

      make something take less time

      Working in pairs shortened the time we needed for the project.

    • the days shorten

      白天變短

      daylight becomes shorter (often in winter)

      After midsummer, the days slowly shorten.

    • shorten the length

      縮短長度

      make the measured length of something smaller

      Cut here if you need to shorten the length of the rope.

    用法接近

    make shorterabbreviatecontractcompress

core核心畫面

Picture taking up the hem of a pair of trousers, or a meeting that was going to run two hours finishing in one. Something had a length — in cloth or in time — and that length is reduced. The word works in both directions: you can shorten a thing, or a thing can shorten by itself.

可以想成：把褲腳改短，或是本來要開兩小時的會一小時就結束。某樣東西原本有一個長度——布的長度或時間的長度——現在這個長度變小了。這個字兩邊都能用：可以是你把它弄短（及物），也可以是它自己變短（不及物），例如冬天 The days are shortening（白天愈來愈短）。字尾 -en 在英文裡常表示「使…變成」，像 widen、soften 都是同一組。

同家族的字

過去式 shortened過去分詞 shortened-ing shortening三單 shortens

用法接近

make shorterabbreviatecontractcompress

原始詞典資料10 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

Shortenname

  • 1

    A surname.

shortenverb/ˈʃɔːtn̩/

  • 1

    To make shorter; to abbreviate.

    • York came round to our heads and shortened the rein himself, one hole I think; every little makes a difference, be it for better or worse, and that day we had a steep hill to go up.
    • The full title of the unified system, the South Eastern & London, Chatham & Dover Railways, was decidedly cumbersome, and for the sake of convenience was shortened to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway.
  • 2

    To become shorter.

  • 3

    To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of).

    • Spoiled of his nose, and shorten'd of his ears.
  • 4

    To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc.

  • 5

    To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen.

    • to shorten an allowance of food
    • Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain.
  • 6

    bakingcookingfoodTo make crumbly.

    • Corn flour makes delicious pie crust, and needs less lard to shorten it.
  • 7

    nauticaltransportTo take in the slack of (a rope).

  • 8

    nauticaltransportTo reduce (sail) by taking it in.

另外 1 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    datedto dress (a baby) in a short (rather than long) gown

    • Anne and Leslie had another cry the next week when they shortened Little Jem. Anne felt the tragedy of it until evening when in his long nightie she found her own dear baby again.
    • In January Jims was five months old and Rilla celebrated the anniversary by shortening him.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。