It has rough bark, a crown of stiff leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flower buds usually in crowded groups on the ends of branchlets and urn-shaped fruit.

Corymbia abbreviata is a straggly tree or shrub that typically grows to a height of 2.1 to 6 metres (7 to 20 ft) and forms a lignotuber.

[7][5] The specific epithet (abbreviata) is from the Latin word abbreviatus meaning "shortened" referring to the flower heads.

[2] Corymbia abbreviata has a scattered distribution extending from Wyndham and Karunji in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and east as far as Dorisvale and Willeroo in the Northern Territory.

[4] It grows in skeletal soils, on stony slopes, ridges and outcrops of sandstone, granite or quartzite.