What does abridge mean?
Word: Abridge
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Abridge means to cut a book, play or speech down to a shorter version, leaving out some parts but keeping the main story.
Synonyms: shorten, condense
Antonyms: lengthen
How do you spell abridge?
Syllables: a - bridge
Tricky part: Only one b follows the a, although abbreviate, a word with a close meaning, has two.
Watch out for: abbridge, abridg
Memory tip: Both words are about shortening, but only the longer one, abbreviate, can afford the extra b.
Abridge in a sentence
Example 1: The school magazine asked me to abridge my 900-word story.
Example 2: Teachers often abridge long plays for the annual function.
Example 3: It takes skill to abridge a novel without losing its charm.
Fun Fact
The publisher Reader's Digest became famous for this kind of work: from 1950 it sold volumes holding shortened versions of several popular novels.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word abridge as used in the sentence:
The editor had to abridge the speech so that it would fit on a single page.
a) expand
b) revise
c) summarise
d) publish
Show answer
a) expand. To expand a speech is to make it longer, the reverse of what the editor had to do.
Word Makeup
Only one of these words takes the prefix un to make a real word. Choose it:
un
a) possible
b) legal
c) abridged
d) regular
Show answer
c) abridged. Unabridged means complete, not shortened; the others take il, im and ir instead.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
abr_d_e
a) a, g
b) i, g
c) i, j
d) e, g
Show answer
b) i, g. A short i sits in the middle, and a g makes the soft j sound.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The publishers will abrige the long novel so that younger readers can enjoy the adventure without losing any of its best moments.
a) publishers
b) abrige
c) adventure
d) novel
Show answer
b) abrige. A d is missing before the g.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Someone who has read only the abridged edition of a novel has ____.
a) read the original twice over
b) missed parts of the original text
c) read a sequel to the original
d) seen only a film of the story
Show answer
b) missed parts of the original text
2. What would an editor do to abridge a 600-page novel?
a) design a bright new cover
b) translate it into Hindi
c) correct the spelling mistakes
d) cut it to about 300 pages
Show answer
d) cut it to about 300 pages
