abbreviate (something) to
1. To shorten a word or phrase into an abbreviation or acronym. Many government agencies have long names that are often abbreviated to acronyms. The pop star abbreviated her name to the first letter of her first name and the first two letters of her last name. "Radio detecting and ranging" is certainly a mouthful! You can see why scientists abbreviated it to "radar."
2. To condense or shorten something. During our busy season, our lunch hour is often abbreviated to 30 minutes so we can keep up with the demand. The judge abbreviated the sentence to just 10 months. The boss mercifully abbreviated our Friday afternoon meeting to just 30 minutes—I guess he could see our eyes glazing over.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
abbreviate something to something
1. and abbreviate something as something to make specific initials or an acronym out of a word or phrase. The phrase was abbreviated to ABC.
2. to make something into a shorter version of itself. The act has been abbreviated to just a few minutes.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.