Cutting short abrupt illness (11)
I believe the answer is:
curtailment
'cutting' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'short abrupt illness' is the wordplay.
'short' becomes 'curt' (synonyms).
'abrupt illness' becomes 'ailment' (an ailment is an illness or health problem. I am not sure about the 'abrupt' bit.).
'curt'+'ailment'='CURTAILMENT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for curtailment that I've seen before include "Contraction" , "premature end" , "Bringing to an end" , "Abridgement, shortening" , "Terminal cut (anag) - downsizing" .)