Meaning & use
curtail
Last updated
UK/kɜːˈteɪl/
US/kɚˈteɪl/
Meaning
verbtransitive
To cut short or reduce something, usually by deciding to stop it earlier or limit it.
Grammar: Takes an object: the school curtailed the trip.
Patterns
- curtail something
- curtail someone's something
Heavy snow forced the airline to curtail its flights.
The new law curtails the power of local councils.
She curtailed her vacation when her mother became ill.
Word forms
| third person singular | curtails |
|---|---|
| past tense | curtailed |
| past participle | curtailed |
| -ing form | curtailing |
Common combinations
- curtail spending
- The company has decided to curtail spending this year.
- curtail freedom
- Strict rules curtail the freedom of employees.
- curtail activities
- Illness forced him to curtail his activities.
- drastically curtail
- The law will drastically curtail fishing.
- curtail a visit
- They had to curtail their visit because of the storm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cut
- Cut is a short everyday word, while curtail is more formal and suggests stopping something early.
- restrict
- Restrict means to limit what is allowed, but not necessarily to cut it short.
- shorten
- Shorten only concerns length or time, while curtail also applies to rights and spending.
- truncate
- Truncate suggests chopping off the end of something, often text or data, and is more technical.
Opposites
Word family
- curtailment noun
- the act of cutting short or limiting
- curtailed adjective
- cut short
- tail noun
- the back end of something, from which the verb originally derived
Commonly confused: curtail or curtain?
curtail vs curtain
A curtain is a piece of cloth hanging at a window, while curtail is a verb meaning to reduce.
Practice
The council plans to ___ spending on road repairs because of the budget shortfall.
Choose one answer.
Curtail means cut back. Increase and extend say the opposite, and celebrate does not fit with spending.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “curtail”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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