Acronym vs. Abbreviation

Acronymnoun

An abbreviation formed by the initial letters of other words, sometimes exclusively such abbreviations when pronounced as a word (as "laser") rather than as individual letters (initialisms such as "TNT").

Acronymnoun

An abbreviation formed by the beginning letters or syllables of other words (as "Benelux").

Acronymverb

To form into an acronym

Acronymnoun

a word formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name

Acronymnoun

an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. ASCII, NASA).

Acronym

An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase, usually using individual initial letters, as in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) or EU (European Union), but sometimes using syllables, as in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), or a mixture of the two, as in radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging). Similarly, acronyms are sometimes pronounced as words, as in NASA or UNESCO, sometimes as the individual letters, as in FBI or ATM, or a mixture of the two, as in JPEG or IUPAC. The broader sense of acronym inclusive of terms pronounced as the individual letters (such as ) is sometimes criticized, but it is the term's original meaning and is in common use.

Abbreviationnoun

The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.

Abbreviationnoun

(linguistics) A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, utilizing omission of letters, and sometimes substitution of letters, or duplication of initial letters to signify plurality, including signs such as +, =, @.

Abbreviationnoun

The process of abbreviating.

Abbreviationnoun

(music) A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.

Abbreviationnoun

(music) One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.

Abbreviationnoun

Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.

Abbreviationnoun

(biology) Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.

Abbreviationnoun

(mathematics) Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.

Abbreviationnoun

The act of shortening, or reducing.

Abbreviationnoun

The result of abbreviating; an abridgment.

Abbreviationnoun

The form to which a word or phrase is reduced by contraction and omission; a letter or letters, standing for a word or phrase of which they are a part; as, Gen. for Genesis; U.S.A. for United States of America.

Abbreviationnoun

One dash, or more, through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, or demi-semiquavers.

Abbreviationnoun

a shortened form of a word or phrase

Abbreviationnoun

shortening something by omitting parts of it

Abbreviation

An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word abbreviation can itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr., abbrv., or abbrev.; NPO, for nil (or nothing) per (by) os (mouth) is an abbreviated medical instruction.