Prolongs

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To extend the time span of an event or activity beyond its original limit
2. To make something last longer than initially planned or expected
3. Increases the length of time that an action, event, or state continues

Etymology: "Prolongs" is the third-person singular present form of "prolong", so it describes someone or something doing the lengthening. The verb itself traces to Latin "prōlongō", built from "prō", meaning forward, and "longō", meaning to lengthen, from "longus", long. English may have taken it through Old French "prolonguer" or "porloignier", which carried the same sense of stretching something out in space or time. The most surprising link is a doublet: "purloin" comes from the same Old French source. Both words descend from the idea of putting something at a distance, and over centuries "porloignier" came to mean carrying something off, while "prolong" kept the sense of extending. A word that once meant removing an object from sight now sits next to one that means stretching time, both sprung from one Latin root.

Synonyms: extends, lengthens, dilates, delays, stretches

Antonyms: shortens, reduces, curtails, abbreviates, truncates