Abbreviations what does it mean

Both abbreviation and acronym are used to refer to a shortened form, but an acronym is a shortened form of a phrase and is usually made up of the initial letters of that phrase.

Acronyms are a type of abbreviation. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abbreviation. Send us feedback. See more words from the same century. Accessed 14 Nov. More Definitions for abbreviation. Nglish: Translation of abbreviation for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of abbreviation for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of abbreviation. Synonyms What is an abbreviation? What's the difference between an abbreviation and an acronym? Synonyms for abbreviation Synonyms abridgment or abridgement , bowdlerization , condensation , digest Visit the Thesaurus for More.

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Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes. Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans. Sign up now or Log in. Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.

Follow us. Choose a dictionary. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English. Grammar Thesaurus. The pronunciation of acronyms can vary, however.

Sometimes it's just a question of, " Can the acronym be pronounced as a word? However, there's no set rule that governs this. Knowing how to pronounce acronyms depends a lot your awareness of the world around you, but it's not the end of the world if you make a mistake.

Sometimes you may need to explain the acronym when using it in writing. Style guides suggest that you write the acronym first, followed by the full name or phrase in parentheses. You can also write them in the opposite order—whatever makes more sense. In short, if the acronym is more widely known, list it first; if it's more obscure, you may want to start with the entire phrase.

A lot of contemporary acronyms might need to be explained for different reasons this also applies to the chat abbreviations that we discussed earlier. As always, this type of slang can be OK in certain contexts, but it might leave some readers feeling confused. As you now know, abbreviations and acronyms can save time and space, and they can make your writing easier to read.

Below is a sample that contains the full form of several different words, phrases, and expressions. Do you know which acronyms and abbreviations could be used as substitutes? AKA is an acronym for also known as. Even though it could be pronounced as a word it has the right combination of consonants and vowels , it's always pronounced literally— A-K-A. It can be used to refer to someone who is a junior in name for example, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Senior is a related abbreviation—as in Martin Luther King, Sr. If you've heard the acronym before, but never knew what it stood for, that's OK. This is one of those special cases where the acronym is now more common than the original phrase. OJ stands for orange juice —yet another term that we didn't cover in this lesson, but it's easy to see the connection.

Did you get this one right? OJ is more of a slang term than an official abbreviation or acronym. It's used almost exclusively in conversation and casual writing and your weekly shopping list. Like OJ , it's more like slang than an official acronym. Good guess if you got this one right. Min is the abbreviation for minute. Notice that it's not capitalized in the sentence, and it doesn't use a period either. This is common for certain types of abbreviations especially those related to time and measurement.

However, in your own writing, feel free to add a period if it makes the abbreviation easier to read. Maybe you've seen it spelled a different way on a certain cereal box—ever heard of Cap'n Crunch? That's more of a slang abbreviation, used in conversation and casual writing sometimes as a joke.

It's one of the few abbreviations that can be pronounced literally as in rhymes with "ink" , or the same as the word it's based on. It often depends on the business' branding, and how they prefer to be known to the public. PM is the abbreviation for Post Meridiem.