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- DictionaryCur·tail/kərˈtāl/
verb
- 1. reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on: "civil liberties were further curtailed"
: to make less by or as if by cutting off or away some part. curtail the power of the executive branch. curtail inflation. Some school activities are being curtailed due to a lack of funds. curtailer. (ˌ)kər-ˈtā-lər. noun. Synonyms. abbreviate. abridge. cut back. dock. elide. shorten. syncopate. truncate. See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus.
noun. , Architecture. a horizontal, spiral termination to the lower end of a stair railing. Also called curtail step. a starting step having a scroll termination to one or both ends of the tread. curtail. / kɜːˈteɪl / verb. tr to cut short; abridge. Discover More. Derived Forms. curˈtailment, noun. curˈtailer, noun. Discover More. Other Words From.
to stop something before it is finished, or to reduce or limit something: to curtail your holiday / spending. severely curtailed With all the snow, our daily walks have been severely curtailed. Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples. to cancel something. cancel Sorry, I have to cancel our plans tonight.
to stop something before it is finished, or to reduce or limit something: to curtail your vacation / spending. severely curtailed With all the snow, our daily walks have been severely curtailed. Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples. to cancel something. cancel Sorry, I have to cancel our plans tonight.
To curtail something is to slow it down, put restrictions on it, or stop it entirely. If I give up cake, I am curtailing my cake-eating. Curtail is an official-sounding word for stopping or slowing things down. The police try to curtail crime — they want there to be less crime in the world.
tr.v. cur·tailed, cur·tail·ing, cur·tails. To cut short or reduce: We curtailed our conversation when other people entered the room. See Synonyms at shorten. [Middle English curtailen, to restrict, probably blend of Old French courtauld, docked; see curtal, and Middle English taillen, to cut (from Old French tailler; see tailor ).] cur·tail′er n.
6 days ago · curtail. (kɜːʳteɪl ) Word forms: 3rd person singular present tense curtails , present participle curtailing , past tense, past participle curtailed. verb. If you curtail something, you reduce or limit it. [formal] NATO plans to curtail the number of troops being sent to the region. [VERB noun]
