acortar

to shorten, to cut short

verb ah-kohr-TAHR Rare

Also means

to reduce

Usage Note

Acortar is formed from a- + corto (short) and is regular in all tenses. It is used for physically shortening something (acortar el camino = to take a shortcut) or for reducing duration (acortar el plazo = to shorten the deadline). The reflexive acortarse means 'to become shorter' and is common when talking about days getting shorter in autumn.

Examples

"Decidieron acortar el viaje por el mal tiempo."

Natural Translation

They decided to cut the trip short because of the bad weather.

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