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a shortened or condensed form of a book, speech, etc., that still retains the basic contents: an abridgment of Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
the act or process of .
the state of being .
reduction or curtailment:
abridgment of civil rights.
Historical Examples

Notwithstanding the abridgement of their rights, a great many of the Jews attained wealth and distinction.
Nasby in Exile David R. Locke

This abridgement was made by the different friends of the cause.
The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Thomas Clarkson

The letter is a very long one, and its abridgement even is impossible here, but few more Boswellian productions can be found.
James Boswell William Keith Leask

Appian, who comes next, does not confine himself merely to the history of the war; Florus gives us only an abridgement.
A Manual of Ancient History A. H. L. (Arnold Hermann Ludwig) Heeren

I said, printing an abridgement of a work was allowed, which was only cutting the horns and tail off the cow.
Life Of Johnson, Volume 5 Boswell

I chanced to possess an abridgement of the “Biblia naturae,” the masterly work of the father of insect anatomy.
More Hunting Wasps J. Henri Fabre

An abridgement was tried of Gibbon; but it had little success, and has never since been attempted.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844 Various

The reader, however, would most probably prefer to hear an abridgement of the tale in our own words.
The Crater James Fenimore Cooper

It is little more than an abridgement, for the use of young persons, of what the real history should be.
Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 Various

This defect is remedied in the ‘abridgement,’ the number of examples being nearly twice as great as in the original work.
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 22, No. 4, October 1843 Various

noun
a shortened version of a written work
the act of abridging or state of being abridged
n.

late 15c., from Old French abregement “shortening, abbreviation,” from abregier (see abridge).