curtail
10 synonyms and 5 antonyms for curtail, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Verb — To cut something short or reduce it, especially something that would otherwise have continued at its full extent.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. verb
To cut something short or reduce it, especially something that would otherwise have continued at its full extent.
“The strike curtailed the summer timetable.”
Opposites
2. verb formal
To restrict a freedom, right or activity, limiting what someone is allowed to do.
“The new law curtails the right to protest.”
Opposites
How to use curtail
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Slightly formal. Common in journalism, law and business writing; in speech people more often say cut back or cut short.
Etymology
From curtal, an obsolete word for a horse with a docked tail, reshaped under the influence of Latin curtus 'shortened, cut short'.
Full origin of curtail →