abbreviation
nounUK /əˌbɹiː.viˈeɪ.ʃən/ · US /əˌbɹi.viˈeɪ.ʃn̩/
Etymology First attested 1400–50. From Middle English abbreviacioun, from Middle French abreviation, from Ecclesiastical Latin abbreviātiō, from Latin ad + breviō (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”). By surface analysis, abbreviate + -ion.
8 senses
- 1The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
- 2A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase used…
- 3The process of abbreviating.
- 4A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as…
- 5One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing…
- 6Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an…
- 7Loss during evolution of the final stages of the…
- 8Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.
The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase used to represent the whole, using omission of letters, and sometimes substitution of letters, or duplication of initial letters to signify plurality, including signs such as +, =, @.
- Hants is an abbreviation of Hampshire.
- Americans, for example, call newcomers to Antarctica “fingies”, which comes from FNGs – a borrowed military abbreviation that means “Fucking New Guy”.2024 June 20, Eva Corlett, “Fidlets, fingies and riding a doo: study sheds light on Antarctic English slang”, in The Guardian:
The process of abbreviating.
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
- The phrase "civil rights" is an abbreviation for a whole complex of relationships.1946-1947, Harry S. Truman, President Truman's committee on Civil Rights:
Biology, Natural sciences Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
Mathematics, Sciences Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.
- Synonyms
- abbreviature, abridgement, abstract, compend, compression, condensation, contraction, curtailment, epitome, reduction, shortcut, summary
- Antonyms
- amplification, dilation, enlargement, expansion, expatiation, extension, production
- Derived terms
- abbreviationitis, graphic abbreviation, syllabic abbreviation, unabbreviation