Curtailment

To halt something, or cut it short. Like, "I experienced a curtailment of my Disney trip when one of the windmills in the Holland installment of the Small World ride fell on my boat and put me in the hospital."

It has some specific meanings in finance, however. One has to do with mortgage payments. A curtailment payment happens when you make an extra payment of principal. You've probably heard of the trick of making a 13th mortgage payment each year with the goal of paying off the loan faster. That 13th payment is officially called a curtailment payment. It gets that name from the fact that it shortens, or curtails, the length of the mortgage.

Curtailment also comes up in the context of corporate cutbacks. As in, "we're curtailing production of our Sweet Shine Soft and Creamy Skin Emollient after discovery that repeated use leads to aggressive facial hair growth in both men and women. We will now only sell it in lumberjack camps and in boutique men's shops in Brooklyn."