Definition of "abbreviate" []

• To make shorter. See Synonyms at shorten. (verb-transitive)
• To reduce (a word or phrase) to a shorter form intended to represent the full form. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "She talked about money, and her points (which I again abbreviate) are:"
• "To abbreviate or not to abbreviate, that is the important style question"
• "Desplechin reminded his audience that excellent dialogue was often written for silent movies even though you never hear it and the intertitles abbreviate the script."