Acronym vs. Acrostic

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.

Acrosticnoun

A poem or other text in which certain letters, often the first in each line, spell out a name or message.

Acrosticnoun

A particular kind of word puzzle: its solutions form an anagram of a quotation, and their initials often form its author.

Acrosticnoun

A composition, usually in verse, in which the first or the last letters of the lines, or certain other letters, taken in order, form a name, word, phrase, or motto.

Acrosticnoun

A Hebrew poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order (as Psalm cxix.). See Abecedarian.

Acrosticnoun

Pertaining to, or characterized by, acrostics.

Acrosticnoun

a puzzle where you fill a square grid with words reading the same down as across

Acrosticnoun

verse in which certain letters such as the first in each line form a word or message

Acrosticnoun

a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words.

Acrostic

An acrostic is a poem (or other form of writing) in which the first letter (or syllable, or word) of each line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The word comes from the French acrostiche from post-classical Latin acrostichis, from Koine Greek ἀκροστιχίς, from Ancient Greek ἄκρος and στίχος .