SHORTEN in a Sentence

Learn SHORTEN from example sentences, some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

For SHORTEN, below is one of 24 sentences:
This embarrassment had completely escaped Albert, but it caused Lucien to shorten his visit; he was evidently ill at ease.

Free Online Vocabulary Test
K12, SAT, GRE, IELTS, TOEFL
 Input your word:
Want to search a word in classic works?
Search Classic Quotes
 Meanings and Examples of SHORTEN
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
shorten
 v.  make short or shorter
 v.  make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration
Classic Sentence: (20 in 2 pages)
1  Dantes ordered the helmsman to put down his helm, in order to leave La Pianosa to starboard, as he knew that he should shorten his course by two or three knots.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 23. The Island of Monte Cristo.
2  This embarrassment had completely escaped Albert, but it caused Lucien to shorten his visit; he was evidently ill at ease.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 54. A Flurry in Stocks.
3  Elizabeth had hoped that his resentment might shorten his visit, but his plan did not appear in the least affected by it.
Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 21
4  The first project was, to shorten discourse, by cutting polysyllables into one, and leaving out verbs and participles, because, in reality, all things imaginable are but norms.
Gulliver's Travels 2 By Jonathan Swift
Context  Highlight   In PART 3: CHAPTER V.
5  I come to a question that may shorten the business.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: CHAPTER III
6  All the artful maneuvers suggested by our generals meant fresh movements of the army and a lengthening of its marches, whereas the only reasonable aim was to shorten those marches.
War and Peace 5 By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 15: CHAPTER IV
7  Huck closed up and shortened his distance, now, for they would never be able to see him.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer By Mark Twain
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXIX
8  So we shortened up one of the calico gowns, and I turned up my trouser-legs to my knees and got into it.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER X.
9  And the black crepe veil on her bonnet had to reach to her knees, and only after three years of widowhood could it be shortened to shoulder length.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VII
10  One foot in the shortened stirrup and the other leg crooked about the pommel in an approximation of a side saddle, she set out across the fields toward Mimosa, steeling herself to find it burned.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXVI
11  Below him he perceived two red stars, whose rays lengthened and shortened in a singular manner through the darkness.
Les Misérables 1 By Victor Hugo
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 7: CHAPTER IV—FORMS ASSUMED BY SUFFERING DURING SLEEP
12  Every day he emerged from his house at the same hour, he undertook the same trip, but he no longer completed it, and, perhaps without himself being aware of the fact, he constantly shortened it.
Les Misérables 5 By Victor Hugo
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 8: CHAPTER IV—ATTRACTION AND EXTINCTION
13  The daily visits I could make him were shortened now, and he was more strictly kept.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter LVI
14  In the hours that had passed, the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible were shortened.
Dracula By Bram Stoker
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XII
15  "I thought you were going to tell your speech to that man," said Jo, rudely shortening her sister's little reverie.
Little Women By Louisa May Alcott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Example Sentence:
1  In the spring, cut out the old wood and shorten the young stems.
2  The course has now been shortened considerably.
3  The play was shortened by the omission of two scenes.
4  If the string is shortened in certain numeric proportions, other sounds will be produced.