How to Use shorten in a Sentence
shorten
verb- He had to shorten the speech.
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Both of their styles will chew the clock and shorten this game.
—Doug Ziefel, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2022
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The strength of the glue or even your skin type, as oily skin can break down the glue and shorten the hold.
—Jazmine Boutte, StyleCaster, 7 Oct. 2024
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There's a lot of slang, and Australians shorten a lot of words.
—Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 6 Jan. 2025
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By the end, he’s called Grand Elf, and shortens it to Gandalf.
—Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 3 Oct. 2024
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McCormick shortened the name to just Pumpkin Spice in the 1960s.
—Terry Baddoo, USA TODAY, 7 Sep. 2024
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The move is clearly meant to shorten the show, which is scheduled to run for three hours.
—oregonlive, 27 Mar. 2022
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The chart above shows every single draft pick in the NBA since 1989, the year that the draft was shortened to just two rounds.
—Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 27 June 2024
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Now, the asteroid’s 3.3-year trip around the sun has been shortened by about 24 days.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 6 July 2024
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This gives you more room for games and will shorten game loading times.
—Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 8 July 2022
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The next best thing is to solidify your bullpen and shorten the game.
—New York Times, 21 Mar. 2022
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This drives the hot end against the block, enlarging it, and shortening the metal in the process.
—Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 9 Aug. 2023
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The kind of shot that can cause a concussion and shorten a career.
—Jared Wyllys, Forbes, 18 Jan. 2022
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The best way to shorten a game is to run the football consistently.
—Omar Kelly, sun-sentinel.com, 7 Oct. 2021
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Bergeron shortened that phrase to Mai Tai, and the rest is history.
—Tori Latham, Robb Report, 17 Apr. 2023
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The central pendant can be removed and worn as a brooch, the necklace shortened and worn as a bracelet.
—Anthony Demarco, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
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At that point, rotations had been shortened from three months to 45 days because of the high risk.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2024
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Torrey Pines was supposed to grind out yards — three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust style — and eat up the clock in an effort to shorten the game.
—John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Oct. 2021
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But the idea of an over-the-counter way to shorten the misery of a common cold has proved wildly popular.
—Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2024
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To fry the wonton wrappers, cut the squares into ½-inch strips, then cut those strips in half crosswise to shorten them.
—Eric Kim, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Oct. 2023
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Wildlife experts managed to shorten the rope before the whale headed south, but weren't able to free it.
—Russ Bynum, ajc, 6 Dec. 2021
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Wildlife experts managed to shorten the rope before the whale headed south, but weren’t able to free it.
—Russ Bynum, orlandosentinel.com, 6 Dec. 2021
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The result was clear - more than 90% of workers wanted to shorten their work day by one hour four days a week.
—Virginia Lau, Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Oct. 2021
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With Defy, the chain is looking to shorten the process to 2 minutes or less thanks to the multiple drive-thru lanes.
—Jordan Valinsky, CNN, 7 June 2022
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And a longer status report as of late has shortened the number of available players for the team.
—Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 22 June 2024
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Eating the wrong ones can age your insides, degrade your skin and even shorten your life.
—Dr. Anthony Yuon, Contributor, CNBC, 22 Jan. 2025
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The offense will have to lean on its explosive and consistent run game to score points and shorten the game.
—Lance Reisland, cleveland, 14 Sep. 2022
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The most aggressive way to shorten a battery’s life is to charge it very quickly.
—Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 13 May 2022
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Last season was shortened by the actors' and writers' strikes last year.
—Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 25 Sep. 2024
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Tamiflu can shorten that by about 24 hours by blocking the virus from replicating in your body.
—Angela Haupt, TIME, 28 Jan. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shorten.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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