English dictionary

short Meaning & Definition

Q: What is the past tense of short?

The past tense of short is shorted. The present participle is shorting.

/ʃɔːt/

What Does Short Mean?

As an adjective, short means Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically. It is also used to mean Of a person, living being, or object, having a comparatively small height. As an adverb, it means Abruptly, curtly, briefly. As a noun, it means A short circuit.

Word Facts for Short

Part of speech	adjective, adverb, noun, verb, preposition
Pronunciation	/ʃɔːt/
Synonyms	tender, light and close
Antonyms	long, tall and broad
Plural	shorts
Comparative / superlative	shorter, shortest
Verb forms	shorts, shorting, shorted

Short Definition (Adjective)

Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
Of a person, living being, or object, having a comparatively small height.
Having little duration.
Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it’s been at least twenty minutes long.
Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
"Phone" is short for "telephone" and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".
Of a fielder or fielding position, that is relatively close to the batsman.
Of a ball, bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
Of an approach shot or putt, that falls short of the green or the hole.
Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
Of pastries or of materials, brittle, crumbly.
shortbread
Abrupt, brief, pointed, curt.
He gave a short answer to the question.
Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
a short supply of provisions
Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.
to be short of money
Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
an account which is short of the truth
Undiluted; neat.
Not distant in time; near at hand.
Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
short position
Doubtful of, skeptical of.
Of money, given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.

Short as an Adverb

Abruptly, curtly, briefly.
They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.
Unawares.
The recent developments at work caught them short.
Without achieving a goal or requirement.
His speech fell short of what was expected.
Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
With a negative ownership position.
We went short most finance companies in July.

Short as a Noun

A short circuit.
The circuit breaker keeps tripping because there's a short in the wiring.
A short film. A short-form vertical video. A vertical video of any length.
long short
A short-form vertical video.
A vertical video of any length.
long short
A trailer consisting of excerpts from a forthcoming feature film.
A short version of a garment in a particular size.
38 short suits fit me right off the rack.
A shortstop.
Jones smashes a grounder between third and short.
A short seller.
The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.
A short sale or short position.
He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
A summary account.
A short phone (such as a vowel) or syllable.
An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.
An automobile.
crack shorts
Ellipsis of short bond paper.

Short as a Verb

To cause a short circuit in (something).
You should short the poles of the capacitor to discharge it before you work on it.
To short circuit.
To provide with an amount smaller than that agreed or labeled; to shortchange.
This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.
To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.
To shorten.

Short as a Preposition

Deficient in.
We are short a few men on the second shift.
Having a negative position in.
I don’t want to be short the market going into the weekend.

Noun

A short film.
A short sale.
He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
An automobile; especially in crack shorts, to break into automobiles.

Verb

Of an electrical circuit, to short circuit.
To shortchange.
To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.
This is the third time I’ve caught them shorting us.

Adjective

(of a person) Of comparatively small height.
(followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
“Phone” is short for “telephone” and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".
(of a ball) that bounced relatively far from the batsman.
(of pastries) Brittle, crumbly, especially due to the use of a large quantity of fat. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening.)
Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.
He gave a short answer to the question.

Adverb

(of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.

Antonyms of Short

long tall broad deep high wide

Short in a Sentence

Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it’s been at least twenty minutes long.

"Phone" is short for "telephone" and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".

shortbread

hot short

He gave a short answer to the question.

a short supply of provisions

to be short of money

I'd lend you the cash but I'm a little short at present.

The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.

an account which is short of the truth

short position

I'm short in General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.

They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.

He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.

The boss got a message and cut the meeting short.

The recent developments at work caught them short.

We were caught short by the sudden hailstorm.

His speech fell short of what was expected.

We went short most finance companies in July.

The circuit breaker keeps tripping because there's a short in the wiring.

long short

38 short suits fit me right off the rack.

Do you have that size in a short?

Jones smashes a grounder between third and short.

The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.

He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.

crack shorts

You should short the poles of the capacitor to discharge it before you work on it.

This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.

We are short a few men on the second shift.

He's short common sense.

I don’t want to be short the market going into the weekend.

This is the third time I’ve caught them shorting us.

“Phone” is short for “telephone” and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".

I'm short General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.

Word Forms & Grammar

short (comparative shorter, superlative shortest)

short (not comparable)

short (plural shorts)

short (third-person singular simple present shorts, present participle shorting, simple past and past participle shorted)

short

Words That Rhyme With Short

snort support thwart court distort retort report escort purport exhort port resort contort cavort comport sport sort import transport tort mort athwart kangaroo court seaport assortof importquart fort extort carport

Origin of Short

From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-. Doublet of shirt, skirt, and curt.

Quick Answers About Short

Is short an adjective or an adverb?

Short is mainly used as an adjective, but it can also be used as an adverb, a noun, a verb and a preposition.

What is another word for short?

Words with a similar meaning to short include tender, light and close. See the full list of short synonyms and antonyms.

What is the opposite of short?

The opposite of short can be expressed with words like long, tall, broad and deep.