Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb abbreviate

2 senses of abbreviate

Sense 1
abridge, foreshorten, abbreviate, shorten, cut, contract, reduce -- (reduce in scope while retaining essential elements; "The manuscript must be shortened")
       => decrease, lessen, minify -- (make smaller; "He decreased his staff")

Sense 2
abbreviate -- (shorten; "Abbreviate `New York' and write `NY'")
       => reduce -- (make less complex; "reduce a problem to a single question")