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Definition
to stop or restrict something- He began to reconstruct the events of the past twenty-four hours and his smile widened, a brief, curtailed laugh escaping from his throat.Robert Ludlum -- The Bourne Supremacy
- Q: Does this postponement have anything to do with the Russian decision to curtail their space program after the crash of Zond 19?Michael Crichton -- The Andromeda Strain
- But we cannot solve the problems of legislative independence and responsibility by abolishing or curtailing democracy.John F. Kennedy -- Profiles in Courage
- The twenty-first will no doubt be marked by a struggle to curtail excessive corporate power.Eric Schlosser -- Fast Food Nation
- Enrique says that were he an American citizen, he would want to curtail illegal immigration.Sonia Nazario -- Enrique's Journey
- It was Will's accident that had curtailed our plans for a life together, after all.Jojo Moyes -- Me Before You
- "What is your address?" inquired a young lady behind the counter, taking up the curtailed conversation.Theodore Dreiser -- Sister Carrie
- "Sir, I do not wish to act against you," I said; and my unsteady voice warned me to curtail my sentence.Charlotte Bronte -- Jane Eyre
- Now, whenever I hear any one advocating measures that are meant to curtail the development of another, I pity the individual who would do this.Booker T. Washington -- Up From Slavery: An Autobiography
- Even the air systems had been curtailed.Tom Clancy -- The Hunt for Red October
- I may have to curtail our time together to-day....Baroness Orczy -- The Scarlet Pimpernel
- Who would wish less to curtail your liberty than I?Henry James -- The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1
- "As most of it remains in Sounis, my work on it will necessarily be curtailed," said the magus, frowning at him.Megan Whalen Turner -- Queen of Attolia
- Any other method of curtailing profits is the method of looters —and I recognize it as such.Ayn Rand -- Atlas Shrugged
- Like a wise commander, who finds he has occupied too much ground for the amount of his force, he began to curtail his outworks.James Fenimore Cooper -- The Prairie
- After that he curtailed his travel.Tracy Kidder -- Mountains Beyond Mountains
- But public bigotry has since been vastly curtailed.Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner -- Freakonomics
- Who would wish less to curtail your liberty than I?Henry James -- The Portrait of a Lady - Volumes 1 & 2
- I never have learned to reproach myself for such things; and then my experience in curtailing them was limited.Saul Bellow -- The Adventures of Augie March
- The boys' play was abruptly curtailed as the noise of screaming children approached.W. William Winokur -- The Perfect Game