Shortness

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The property of being short, of being small of stature or brief. uncountable

    "the shortness of a stubby pencil"

  2. 2
    an abrupt discourteous manner wordnet
  3. 3
    The result or product of being short. countable
  4. 4
    the property of being shorter than average stature wordnet
  5. 5
    The property of being short or terse. uncountable

    "I was chastened by the shortness of her reply."

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    the property of being of short temporal extent wordnet
  2. 7
    the property of being of short spatial extent wordnet
  3. 8
    the property of being truncated or short wordnet
  4. 9
    the condition of being short of something wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abruptnessabruptnessbrevitybrusquenesscurtnessdepression

Example

More examples

"Possible side effects include blurred vision and shortness of breath."

Etymology

From Middle English schortnesse, from Old English sċortnes, sċeortnys, equivalent to short + -ness.

Related phrases

shortness of breath

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.