shortening

Meanings

Plural: shortenings

Noun

• fat such as butter or lard used in baked goods
• act of decreasing in length
  • "the dress needs shortening"
• Fat that is solid at room temperature, especially hydrogenated vegetable oil (known as vegetable shortening), used to make shortcrust pastry and in deep fat frying.
• verbal noun of shorten: the process by which something is made shorter; a reduction in length.

Verb

• make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration
• reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
• make short or shorter
• become short or shorter
• edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
• present participle and gerund of shorten

Synonyms

abbreviate, abridge, bowdlerise, bowdlerize, castrate, contract, cut, expurgate, foreshorten, reduce, shorten

Antonyms

expand, extension, lengthen, lengthening