1
as in little
having relatively little height
a lot of boys are shorter than the girls in middle school, but they quickly catch up by high school
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in brief
not lasting for a considerable time
fortunately for those of us in the hot sun, the graduation speech was short and to the point
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in lacking
not coming up to an expected measure or meeting a particular need
regrettably, the art supplies are short this year, so you'll have to share
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in crisp
having a texture that readily breaks into little pieces under pressure
short pastry
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in blunt
being or characterized by direct, brief, and potentially rude speech or manner
I didn't mean to be so short with you by responding to your request with a snippy "I'm busy!"
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in abruptly
with great suddenness
the bicyclist ahead of me unexpectedly pulled up short and I unavoidably plowed into him
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to squeeze
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
charged that the used-car dealer had been shorting customers for years
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in feature
Related Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of short
Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 31 Mar. 2026
That's a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%.
—Lucia I Suarez Sang, CBS News, 31 Mar. 2026
Dallas Morning News, 28 Mar. 2026
Harvard-Westlake was one win away from getting to the CIF State Open Division final, but fell short in the regional final.
—Tarek Fattal, Daily News, 26 Mar. 2026
Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 11 Feb. 2026
Those who shorted the provocation phase got crushed by the pivot.
—Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
Pete Hammond, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2026
Branch saw a lot of short-to-intermediate opportunities, similar to Tyreek Hill under Mike McDaniel.
—Jake Ciely, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for short
Adjective
Tucker went back to the short wall in right field to take a home run away from the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Geraldo Perdomo in Saturday’s game.
—Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 31 Mar. 2026
That's a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%.
—Lucia I Suarez Sang, CBS News, 31 Mar. 2026
Adverb
After falling short during her three years at Notre Dame, Miles reached a regional final in her first season at TCU.
—Dallas Morning News, 28 Mar. 2026
Harvard-Westlake was one win away from getting to the CIF State Open Division final, but fell short in the regional final.
—Tarek Fattal, Daily News, 26 Mar. 2026
Verb
Stanton demonstrates his battery by shorting the coils, which halts the pendulum due to the magnetic field’s braking effect.
—Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 11 Feb. 2026
Those who shorted the provocation phase got crushed by the pivot.
—Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
Noun
This is a promising debut for Goldman, who has found a way to take the more limited constraints of his short and to give it the purpose and time to thrive.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2026
Branch saw a lot of short-to-intermediate opportunities, similar to Tyreek Hill under Mike McDaniel.
—Jake Ciely, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for short
Recent Examples of Synonyms for short
Adjective
-
Residents in the San Gabriel Valley are contending with a dramatic surge in black flies, a painful little pest known for biting around the eyes and necks of people and pets.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Plus, little baby leaves are thinner.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Suggest a timeline that protects quality, confirm roles in writing, and schedule a brief follow-up to keep everyone aligned, whether partnered, solo, or collaborating.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Breaking from a brief decline, jail deaths again rose statewide in 2025.—
Ryan Oehrli
April 1,
Charlotte Observer,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
But the upper frequencies are still slightly lacking.—
Mark Knapp,
PC Magazine,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Loro Parque, a zoo on the island of Tenerife, offers a clean and safe environment, expert care and proper mental and social stimulation that Wikie and Keijo are desperately lacking.—
Valerie Greene,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Jude and the cinematographer Marius Panduru shot the film on an iPhone, and the nimbleness and range of their outdoor setups summon forth images of a crisp, unshowy beauty.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Hubble captures crisp, long-term visible-light views of Saturn's cloud bands and atmospheric changes, while the JWST peers deeper into the planet's atmosphere in infrared, revealing heat patterns and structures hidden beneath the upper cloud layers.—
Samantha Mathewson,
Space.com,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
His appetite for complexity was increasingly indulged as a means of branding cities and institutions, and his novel forms were deployed as blunt metaphors to absorb and obscure contradictions rather than negotiate them in material and spatial terms.—
Julian Rose,
Artforum,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Zhao is blunt that AI in health care will only work if clinicians buy in.—
Lily Mae Lazarus,
Fortune,
26 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
Communications or conversations can feel abruptly charged or destabilizing during the Leo moon.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2026
-
Kenwood Vineyards, a longtime Sonoma Valley winery, has abruptly closed its tasting room, and a new property sale raises fresh questions about the brand’s future.—
Aidin Vaziri,
San Francisco Chronicle,
28 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
House rebels view the attempt to squeeze the SAVE America Act into reconciliation, a restrictive budget process that requires all language to have a direct fiscal impact, as capitulation and want to see the entire bill, including its mandates on voter ID and proof of citizenship, signed into law.—
David Sivak,
The Washington Examiner,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Priced at just £600, the 13-inch Neo squeezes many of the MacBook Air’s best features into a device that is far more affordable.—
The Week UK,
TheWeek,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Trying to reach for that classic creature feature, Cinemascope, old Hollywood vibe.—
Brayden Garcia,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Trump’s image will be a feature of the exterior of the building, with jumbo video screens showing his face in the footage.—
Claire Heddles,
Miami Herald,
31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Short.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/short. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
