lessen vs shorten

Other hyponyms of lessen include break, shrink, shrivel, taper, drop off, fly, vanish, vaporize, break, ease off, ease up, flag, slacken off, weaken, boil down, concentrate, decoct, reduce, contract, shrink, shrink, shrivel, shrivel up, wither, abate, die away, let up, slack, slack off, deflate, dwindle, dwindle away, dwindle down, remit, de-escalate, depreciate, devaluate, devalue, undervalue, thin out, decline, go down, wane, wane, wane, decelerate, retard, slow, slow down, slow up, decrescendo.

Other hyponyms of lessen include suppress, mitigate, pare, pare down, circumscribe, confine to, limit, boil down, concentrate, reduce, reduce, shrink, abbreviate, abridge, contract, cut, foreshorten, reduce, abate, slack, slake, lour, lower, turn down, de-escalate, step down, weaken, minimise, minimize, bring down, cut, cut back, cut down, reduce, trim, trim back, trim down, cut, relax, slack, slack up, slacken, belittle, diminish.