adj. 1 small, little, slight, petite, diminutive, wee, tiny, elfin, minuscule; midget, dwarfish, squat, dumpy, runty, stubby, stunted, Colloq pint-sized, knee-high to a grasshopper, sawn-off Did you know that Queen Victoria was quite short? 2 shortened, brief, concise, compressed, compendious, compact, pocket, US vest-pocket; abbreviated, abridged, cut A short version of the book was published in paperback 3 laconic, terse, succinct, pithy, sententious, epigrammatic He made a few short remarks that were very much to the point 4 abrupt, curt, terse, sharp, blunt, bluff, brusque, sharp, offhand, gruff, testy, snappish, discourteous, uncivil, impolite It is unnecessary to be so short with the staff 5 direct, straight, straightforward, short and sweet In reply to your request for permission to leave early, the short answer is 'No' 6 Usually, short of. deficient (in), lacking (in), needful (of), wanting, inadequate, shy (of), low (on) The hotel is short of clean linen because the laundry failed to deliver 7 brief, limited; transitory, temporary, short-lived, momentary, quick, transient HQ had a short life but a happy one I'll just make a short stop in here and will join you in a moment. 8 impecunious, straitened, pinched, underfunded, poor, penniless, deficient I'm a bit short today and wonder if you could lend me some money? 9 in short supply rare, scarce, scanty, unplentiful, meagre, sparse, Colloq chiefly Brit thin on the ground Good editors are in short supply these days 10 short of. before, failing, excluding, exclusive of, barring, eliminating, precluding, excepting, except for, leaving out, apart from, setting aside Short of killing him, I am not sure what she could have done in the circumstances
adv. 11 abruptly, suddenly, peremptorily, without warning, instantly, unexpectedly, hurriedly, hastily, out of the blue She stopped short in the middle of the road and made me get out 12 cut short. a trim, curtail, shorten, abbreviate, cut I must cut my visit short because I have a train to catch b stop, cut off, terminate, cut in on, break in on, interrupt; butt in I am sorry to cut you short, but it is getting on for midnight 13 fall or come short. fail, be or prove inadequate or insufficient These grades fall short of our expectations, Bobby
n. 14 in short. briefly, in a word, all in all, to make a long story short, in a nutshell He told me, in short, that there was no job and there never had been one 15 shorts. Bermuda shorts, knee-breeches, knee-pants, hot pants I usually wear shorts to play tennis