adjective / adverb / noun

short

SHORT/ʃɔːrt/

Of limited extent or duration.

The short pencil is much smaller than the full-length one beside it.

A very short pencil beside a full-length pencil of the same design, their blunt ends aligned to make the small length immediately apparent.

Etymology

shortOld Englishof little length or brief duration

Old English sceort already covered both small physical length and brief duration, preserving the modern word’s range. Its deeper ancestry is probably connected with cutting, with the image of something cut off.

In context

Jenn Clayton11:29

it's going to go right above my knees and i'm pretty tall i'm 5 8 so i like that this wasn't super short

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More examples

We watch an animated short before the feature film.
We're short of chairs for tonight's dinner.
Her throw falls short of the target.
He's short with me when he's tired.

Forms

short · shorter · shortest · shorts

shorten verb — To reduce in length or duration.

shortness noun — The quality of limited length or duration.

Similar words

brief: Emphasizes limited time or words, not physical height.
small: Describes overall size rather than specifically length or duration.
curt: Specifically describes speech or behavior that seems rudely abrupt.