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SHORT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between second and third base
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("short" is a kind of...):
position ((in team sports) the role assigned to an individual player)
Holonyms ("short" is a member of...):
baseball team (a team that plays baseball)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("short" is a kind of...):
parcel; parcel of land; piece of ground; piece of land; tract (an extended area of land)
Holonyms ("short" is a part of...):
baseball diamond; diamond; infield (the area of a baseball field that is enclosed by 3 bases and home plate)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference
Synonyms:
short; short circuit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("short" is a kind of...):
contact; tangency ((electronics) a junction where things (as two electrical conductors) touch or are in physical contact)
Holonyms ("short" is a part of...):
circuit; electric circuit; electrical circuit (an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow)
Derivation:
short (create a short circuit in)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Marked by rude or peremptory shortness
Example:
the salesgirl was very short with him
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
discourteous (showing no courtesy; rude)
Derivation:
shortness (an abrupt discourteous manner)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Tending to crumble or break into flakes due to a large amount of shortening
Example:
a short flaky pie crust
Classified under:
Similar:
breakable (capable of being broken or damaged)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length
Example:
a short toss
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
truncate; truncated (terminating abruptly by having or as if having an end or point cut off)
shortened; telescoped (shortened by or as if by means of parts that slide one within another or are crushed one into another)
stubby (short and blunt)
snub (unusually short)
short-snouted (having a snout that is shorter than average)
short-range (limited to short distances)
shortish (somewhat short)
sawed-off; sawn-off; shortened (cut short)
curtal ((archaic) cut short)
close (used of hair or haircuts)
abbreviated; brief ((of clothing) very short)
Attribute:
length (the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place)
Antonym:
long (primarily spatial sense; of relatively great or greater than average spatial extension or extension as specified)
Derivation:
shortness (the property of being of short spatial extent)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
Example:
only a few short months
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
short-run; short-term (relating to or extending over a limited period)
short-range (relating to the near future)
short-dated (of a gilt-edged security; having less than 5 years to run before redemption)
short and sweet (dealt with very quickly; to the point)
fleeting; fugitive; momentaneous; momentary (lasting for a markedly brief time)
clipped ((of speech) having quick short sounds)
brief (of short duration or distance)
abbreviated; shortened; truncated (cut short in duration)
Attribute:
duration; length (continuance in time)
Antonym:
long (primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified)
Derivation:
shortness (the property of being of short temporal extent)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration
Example:
the English vowel sounds in 'pat', 'pet', 'pit', 'pot', putt' are short
Classified under:
Adjectives
Domain category:
phonetics (the branch of acoustics concerned with speech processes including its production and perception and acoustic analysis)
Antonym:
long ((of speech sounds or syllables) of relatively long duration)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices
Example:
short in cotton
Classified under:
Adjectives
Domain category:
finance (the branch of economics that studies the management of money and other assets)
Antonym:
long (holding securities or commodities in expectation of a rise in prices)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Lacking foresight or scope
Example:
myopic thinking
Synonyms:
myopic; short; shortsighted; unforesightful
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
improvident (not provident; not providing for the future)
Sense 8
Meaning:
(of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range
Example:
a short memory
Synonyms:
forgetful; short; unretentive
Classified under:
Adjectives
Also:
forgetful; mindless; unmindful (not mindful or attentive)
Derivation:
shortness (the condition of being short of something)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Of insufficient quantity to meet a need
Example:
the jejune diets of the very poor
Synonyms:
inadequate; jejune; poor; short
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
deficient; insufficient (of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement)
Derivation:
shortness (the condition of being short of something)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so
Example:
regularly gives short weight
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
deficient; insufficient (of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Low in stature; not tall
Example:
a little man
Synonyms:
little; short
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
chunky; dumpy; low-set; squat; squatty; stumpy (short and thick; as e.g. having short legs and heavy musculature)
compact; heavyset; stocky; thick; thickset (having a short and solid form or stature)
half-length (representing only the upper half of the body)
pint-size; pint-sized; runty; sawed-off; sawn-off (well below average height)
short-stalked (of plants having relatively short stalks)
squab; squabby (short and fat)
Also:
low (literal meanings; being at or having a relatively small elevation or upward extension)
Attribute:
height; stature ((of a standing person) the distance from head to foot)
Antonym:
tall (great in vertical dimension; high in stature)
Derivation:
shortness (the property of being shorter than average stature)
shortness (the property of being truncated or short)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they short ... he / she / it shorts
Past simple: shorted
Past participle: shorted
-ing form: shorting
Sense 1
Meaning:
Create a short circuit in
Synonyms:
short; short-circuit
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "short" is one way to...):
create; make (make or cause to be or to become)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
short (accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Cheat someone by not returning him enough money
Synonyms:
short; short-change
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "short" is one way to...):
bunco; con; defraud; diddle; goldbrick; hornswoggle; mulct; nobble; rook; scam; short-change; swindle; victimize (deprive of by deceit)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
IV. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Quickly and without warning
Example:
he stopped suddenly
Synonyms:
abruptly; dead; short; suddenly
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
In a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner
Example:
he said shortly that he didn't like it
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Sense 3
Meaning:
At a disadvantage
Example:
I was caught short
Synonyms:
short; unawares
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 4
Meaning:
So as to interrupt
Example:
She took him up short before he could continue
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 5
Meaning:
At some point or distance before a goal is reached
Example:
he fell short of our expectations
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 6
Meaning:
Clean across
Example:
the car's axle snapped short
Classified under:
Adverbs
Sense 7
Meaning:
Without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold
Example:
he made his fortune by selling short just before the crash
Classified under:
Adverbs
Domain category:
finance (the branch of economics that studies the management of money and other assets)
Context examples:
Asthma health status in clinical practice: validity of a new short and simple instrument.
(Airway Questionnaire 20, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
Having a severe and rapid onset of symptoms with short duration.
(Acute, NCI Thesaurus)
The short, hard coat may be any color.
(American Foxhound, NCI Thesaurus)
A usually short communication transmitted by words, signals, or other means from one person, station, or group to another.
(Message, NCI Thesaurus)
His person was short but remarkably erect and his voice the sweetest I had ever heard.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Compared to other coumarin derivatives, acenocoumarol has a short half-life.
(Acenocoumarol, NCI Thesaurus)
The king’s son remained there a short while longer, and he thought of his mother, and wondered if she were still alive.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
She ran to the place and then stopped short, with a little cry of surprise.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
“Well, now, and the short and long of it, captain?” asked the doctor.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Why should the great bell of Beaulieu toll when the shadows were neither short nor long?
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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