1
as in little
having relatively little height
a lot of boys are shorter than the girls in middle school, but they quickly catch up by high school
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2
as in brief
not lasting for a considerable time
fortunately for those of us in the hot sun, the graduation speech was short and to the point
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3
as in lacking
not coming up to an expected measure or meeting a particular need
regrettably, the art supplies are short this year, so you'll have to share
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4
as in crisp
having a texture that readily breaks into little pieces under pressure
short pastry
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5
as in blunt
being or characterized by direct, brief, and potentially rude speech or manner
I didn't mean to be so short with you by responding to your request with a snippy "I'm busy!"
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as in abruptly
with great suddenness
the bicyclist ahead of me unexpectedly pulled up short and I unavoidably plowed into him
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as in to squeeze
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
charged that the used-car dealer had been shorting customers for years
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as in feature
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Cite this Entry
“Short.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/short. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.
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