The difference between Compress and Shorten

When used as verbs, compress means to make smaller, whereas shorten means to make shorter.

Compress is also noun with the meaning: a multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.

check bellow for the other definitions of Compress and Shorten

  1. Compress as a verb (transitive):

    To make smaller; to press or squeeze together, or to make something occupy a smaller space or volume.

    Examples:

    "The force required to compress a spring varies linearly with the displacement."

  2. Compress as a verb (intransitive):

    To be pressed together or folded by compression into a more economic, easier format.

    Examples:

    "Our new model compresses easily, ideal for storage and travel"

  3. Compress as a verb (transitive):

    To condense into a more economic, easier format.

    Examples:

    "This chart compresses the entire audit report into a few lines on a single diagram."

  4. Compress as a verb (transitive):

    To abridge.

    Examples:

    "If you try to compress the entire book into a three-sentence summary, you will lose a lot of information."

  5. Compress as a verb (technology, transitive):

    To make digital information smaller by encoding it using fewer bits.

  6. Compress as a verb (obsolete):

    To embrace sexually.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Alexander Pope"

  1. Compress as a noun:

    A multiply folded piece of cloth, a pouch of ice etc., used to apply to a patient's skin, cover the dressing of wounds, and placed with the aid of a bandage to apply pressure on an injury.

    Examples:

    "He held a cold compress over the sprain."

  2. Compress as a noun:

    A machine for compressing

  1. Shorten as a verb (transitive):

    To make shorter; to abbreviate.

  2. Shorten as a verb (intransitive):

    To become shorter.

  3. Shorten as a verb (transitive):

    To make deficient (as to); to deprive (of).

  4. Shorten as a verb (transitive):

    To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, etc.

  5. Shorten as a verb (transitive):

    To reduce or diminish in amount, quantity, or extent; to lessen.

    Examples:

    "to shorten an allowance of food"

  6. Shorten as a verb (nautical, transitive):

    To take in the slack of (a rope).

  7. Shorten as a verb (nautical, transitive):

    To reduce (sail) by taking it in.

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