Shortening1. (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Shorten.
2. (n.) The act of making or becoming short or shorter.
3. (n.) That which renders pastry short or friable, as butter, lard, etc.
Thesaurus Entries
abbreviature, abrege, abridgment, abstract, apocope, aposiopesis, astriction, astringency, blue-penciling, bottleneck, bowdlerization, brief, cancellation, capsule, censoring, censorship, cervix, circumscription, clipping, coarctation, compactedness, compaction, compend, compression, compressure, concentration, condensation, condensed version, consolidation, conspectus, constriction, constringency, contraction, contracture, crasis, curtailment, cutting, decrease, deletion, digest, diminuendo, draft, editing, elision, ellipsis, epitome, erasure, expurgation, foreshortening, head, hourglass, hourglass figure, isthmus, knitting, narrow place, narrowing, neck, omission, outline, overview, pandect, precis, pruning, puckering, pursing, recap, recapitulation, reduction, retrenchment, review, rubric, shortened version, shortening, skeleton, sketch, solidification, stranglement, strangulation, striction, stricture, striking, summary, summation, survey, syllabus, syncope, syneresis, synopsis, systole, telescoping, thumbnail sketch, topical outline, truncation, wasp waist, wrinkling