short

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. brief, concise, curt; deficient, failing; compact, stubby.

See insufficiency, shortness, littleness.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Not long in space]

Syn. low, skimpy, slight, not tall, not long, undersized, little, abbreviated, dwarfish, stubby, squat, stunted, stocky, diminutive, tiny, small, dwarf, dwarfed, close to the ground, dumpy, chunky, thickset, compact, stumpy*, sawed-off*, runty*, pint-sized*, half-pint*, pocket-sized*.

2. [Not long in time]

Syn. brief, curtailed, cut short, not protracted, concise, unprolonged, unsustained, laconic, condensed, terse, succinct, pithy, summary, pointed, crisp, precise, bare, abridged, abbreviated, summarized, aphoristic, epigrammatic, compressed, compact, short-term, short-lived, fleeting, quick, hasty; see also fleeting .

3. [Inadequate]

Syn. deficient, insufficient, niggardly; see inadequate 1 .

4. [Curt]

Syn. abrupt, sharp, short-tempered; see abrupt 2 , irritable .

• fall short,

Syn. not reach, be unsuccessful, be inadequate, fall down*; see fail 1 , miss 3 .

• for short,

Syn. as a nickname, familiarly, commonly.

• in short,

Syn. that is, in summary, to make a long story short*; see briefly 1 , finally 1 .

Syn.- short and brief are opposites of long in their application to duration [ a short , or brief , interval ] , although short often implies incompleteness or curtailment [short notice, to make short work of it ] and brief often emphasizes compactness, conciseness, etc. [ a brief review ] ; short is usually used where spatial extent is referred to [ a short way from here ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

1. little of small stature, tiny, *pint-sized, wee, diminutive, *built like a fireplug, runty, dwarfish, *sawed-off, squat, Lilliputian.

2. brief abbreviated, short-lived, momentary, to the point, fleeting, condensed, compressed, succinct.

3. lacking low, wanting, insufficient, tight, short-handed, scant, scarce, sparse, deficient, missing.

4. curt abrupt, rude, brief, terse, discourteous, brusque, gruff.

ANT.: 1. tall, towering, gigantic. 2. long, long-winded, eternal. 3. sufficient, full, well-supplied. 4. polite, courteous, cordial

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I adjective 1. Not long in time or duration: brief. See BIG, FAST. 2. Accomplished in very little time: brief, expeditious, fast, flying, hasty, hurried, quick, rapid, speedy, swift. See FAST. 3. Marked by or consisting of few words that are carefully chosen: brief, compendious, concise, laconic, lean2, succinct, summary, terse. See BIG, STYLE, WORDS. 4. Rudely unceremonious: abrupt, blunt, brief, brusque, crusty, curt, gruff, short-spoken. See ATTITUDE. 5. Not enough to meet a demand or requirement: deficient, inadequate, insufficient, scarce, shy1, under, wanting. See BIG, EXCESS. II adverb 1. Without any warning: abruptly, suddenly. Idiom: all of a sudden. See FAST. 2. Without adequate preparation: aback, unawarely, unawares. Idiom: by surprise. See PREPARED.