/euh brij"meuhnt/ , n.
1. a shortened or condensed form of a book, speech, etc., that still retains the basic contents: an abridgment of Tolstoy's War and Peace.
2. the act or process of abridging.
3. the state of being abridged.
4. reduction or curtailment: abridgment of civil rights.
Also, abridgement .
[ 1400-50; late ME abreg ( g ) ement, abrygement abregement. See ABRIDGE, -MENT ]
Syn. 1. digest, epitome; compendium, synopsis, abstract, summary, précis, conspectus; syllabus, brief, outline. 2. reduction, shortening, contraction, compression.
Ant. 1, 2. expansion, enlargement.