Short
WordNet
adjective
(1) Tending to crumble or break into flakes due to a large amount of shortening
"Shortbread is a short crumbly cookie"
"A short flaky pie crust"
(2) (primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length
"Short skirts"
"Short hair"
"The board was a foot short"
"A short toss"
(3) Primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
"A short life"
"A short flight"
"A short holiday"
"A short story"
"Only a few short months"
(4) Of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration
"The English vowel sounds in `pat', `pet', `pit', `pot', putt' are short"
(5) Not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices
"A short sale"
"Short in cotton"
(6) Lacking foresight or scope
"A short view of the problem"
"Shortsighted policies"
"Shortsighted critics derided the plan"
"Myopic thinking"
(7) (of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range
"A short memory"
(8) Not sufficient to meet a need
"An inadequate income"
"A poor salary"
"Money is short"
"On short rations"
"Food is in short supply"
"Short on experience"
(9) Less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so
"A light pound"
"A scant cup of sugar"
"Regularly gives short weight"
(10) Low in stature; not tall
"He was short and stocky"
"Short in stature"
"A short smokestack"
adverb
(11) Quickly and without warning
"He stopped suddenly"
(12) In a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner
"He told me curtly to get on with it"
"He talked short with everyone"
"He said shortly that he didn't like it"
(13) At a disadvantage
"I was caught short"
(14) So as to interrupt
"She took him up short before he could continue"
(15) At some point or distance before a goal is reached
"He fell short of our expectations"
(16) Clean across
"The car's axle snapped short"
(17) Without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold
"He made his fortune by selling short just before the crash"
noun
(18) The fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between second and third base
(19) The location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed
(20) Accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference
verb
(21) Create a short circuit in
(22) Cheat someone by not returning him enough money
WiktionaryText
Adjective
- Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
- Of comparatively little height.
- Having little duration; opposite of long.
- 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".
- that bounced relatively far from the batsman
- relatively close to the batsman
- brittle (of pastry); see also shortening, shortcrust
- missing, deficient
- The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.
- Any financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
- I'm short General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.
Usage notes
is often used in the positive vertical dimension and used as is in the negative vertical dimension; in the horizontal dimension is more commonly used.Synonyms
low, narrow, slim, shallow little, pint-sized, titchy brief, concise an abbreviation of, a short form ofAntonyms
tall, high, wide, broad, deep, long tall long longAdverb
- abruptly
- They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.
- unawares
- The recent developments at work caught them short.
- briefly
- The boss got a message and cut the meeting short.
- curtly
- He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.
- without achieving a goal or requirement
- His speech fell short of what was expected.
- of a cricket ball, to bounce relatively far from the batsman so that it bounces higher than normal; opposite of full
- With a negative ownership position.
- We went short most finance companies in July.
Noun
- A short circuit.
- 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
- He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
Verb
- To cause a short circuit in (something).
- 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.
- 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.