Taking a shortcut in the city abridges the time the couple needs to get to the city in time for the concert.
The doctor is abridging his discussion about the operation because the audience appears to be tired or bored.
Bryan will abridge his original speech from five pages to just one page.
2. To abbreviate words, while retaining the sense and substance of the written text; to condense, to epitomize: The book was abridged to a more readable length.Within the past few years, publishers have found it necessary to abridge many classics in order to attract a greater reading public.
3. To produce by summarizing a larger work to a condensed form: The mayor agreed to abridge his comments to accommodate the featured speaker's schedule.4. To curtail, to diminish rights, privileges, advantages, or authority: No one should be able to abridge your legal rights.
5. Etymology: from Middle English abregen and Old French abregier, abreger, "to shorten"; from Latin abbreviare, "abbreviate"; from Latin ab-, "from, away from" +breviare, "to shorten".
Abridge and abbreviate both carry the idea of shortening so that what remains adequately represents the whole.
To abridge suggests the "cutting away" of nonessentials while keeping the most important meanings. To abbreviate is generally used in reference to words or phrases, or it implies shortening by the compression or omission of parts while the remainder stands for the whole, in other words to abridge a novel for its inclusion in a magazine.
