shorten vs abbreviate

shorten and abbreviate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
shorten	No	No	Yes	No
abbreviate	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, shorten and abbreviate are synonyms defined as:

shorten and abbreviate: reduce in scope while retaining essential elements

Other synonyms of shorten include abridge, contract, cut, foreshorten, reduce.

As verbs, abbreviate is a hypernym of shorten; that is, abbreviate is a word with a broader meaning than shorten:

Other hypernyms of shorten include abridge, contract, cut, foreshorten, reduce, shorten.

shorten (verb)	abbreviate (verb)
become short or shorter	shorten
make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration	reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
make short or shorter