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SHORTENING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Act of decreasing in length
Example:
the dress needs shortening
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("shortening" is a kind of...):
decrease; diminution; reduction; step-down (the act of decreasing or reducing something)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shortening"):
abbreviation (shortening something by omitting parts of it)
cut; cutting; cutting off (the act of shortening something by chopping off the ends)
contraction; muscle contraction; muscular contraction ((physiology) a shortening or tensing of a part or organ (especially of a muscle or muscle fiber))
truncation (the act of cutting short)
Derivation:
shorten (make short or shorter)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Fat such as butter or lard used in baked goods
Classified under:
Nouns denoting foods and drinks
Hypernyms ("shortening" is a kind of...):
edible fat (oily or greasy matter making up the bulk of fatty tissue in animals and in seeds and other plant tissue)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb shorten
Context examples:
In the fall of the year, when the days were shortening and the bite of the frost was coming into the air, White Fang got his chance for liberty.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Although the team expected that shortening the medication time would decrease the potential for antibacterial resistance, there was no significant difference in levels of resistant bacteria between the treatment groups.
(No benefit to shortening ear infection treatment, NIH)
While bigger galaxies have bigger black holes and produce stronger gravitational waves when they combine, these mergers also happen fast, shortening the time period for detection.
(Listening for Gravitational Waves Using Pulsars, NASA)
The scientists found this shortening of lifespan to be consistent with the nature of the proteome collapse process.
(Study reveals how collapse of protein processes is driver of aging and death, National Science Foundation)
For it is plain, that every word we speak is, in some degree, a diminution of our lungs by corrosion, and, consequently, contributes to the shortening of our lives.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
A cardiac rhythm characterized by progressive PR prolongation and shortening of RR interval until P wave is blocked.
(Mobitz I, NCI Thesaurus)
There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same broad curve of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner cartilage.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
FJ5002 inhibits telomerase by interfering with holoenzyme assembly and telomere interaction, thus leading to replication-dependent shortening of telomeres with a concurrent increase in aneuploid metaphases and apoptotic cells.
(FJ5002, NCI Thesaurus)
Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes, the shortening of which can cause cell ageing and the lengthening of which can cause cancer.
(Long-term consumption of sunflower and fish oils damages the liver, University of Granada)
David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT is committed to shortening the time needed for breakthrough discoveries to directly benefit cancer patients.
(David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, NCI Thesaurus)
