The (cognitive, mental, or emotional) viewpoint of a certain person; (attributively) from that viewpoint.
By this time we might suspect that he had not been looking at her in the previous shot, and that the bird shot had been from his pov.1988, Kristin Thompson, Breaking the Glass Armor: Neoformalist Film Analysis, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 308:
From his pov, we see Boom Boom Grossman, 60, huge ex-pug Jack Dempsey look-alike with meat-hook hands and meat-pie face.1993, Richard Price, 3 Screenplays, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 261:
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When one of the girls goes down into the basement, she is devoured by the POV accompanied by audio portions of werewolfish sounds.1999, Laurence A. Rickels, The vampire lectures, page 259:
A female point-of-view (pov) character is not necessarily written from the perspective of a female gaze. […] A pov character is a character through whose eyes and perspective we follow the action of the story.2015, Kate Elliott, The Very Best of Kate Elliott, Tachyon Publications, →ISBN, page 344:
The film takes us immediately to Oscar’s pov, complete with momentary ‘blackouts’ as he blinks. […] Soon, still from Oscar’s pov, he begins lighting up a form of hallucinatory drug, and after a seemingly interminable number of attempts, begins to achieve the high he was seeking.2022, Peter C. Pugsley, Ben McCann, The Cinematic Influence: Interaction and Exchange Between the Cinemas of France and Japan, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN:
Who would dare theorize the history and practice of jazz without taking into account its significant composers, vocalists and instrumentalists from their pov?2022, Nigel Hamilton, “The Missing Key: Theorizing Modern Historical Biography”, in Hans Renders, David Veltman, editors, Fear of Theory: Towards a New Theoretical Justification of Biography, Brill, →ISBN, part I (Reflections on Theory and Biography), page 39:
› Initialism of point of view. › The (cognitive, mental, or emotional)…
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Broadly A discourse marker signalling "imagine, if you will, being in the situation that this text, photo, or video depicts", even in cases where third-person viewpoint exists; compare also fourth wall joke.
I type ‘high cortisol’ into the search bar and keep scrolling. ‘You’re not ugly, you just have cortisol face,’ declares one video. ‘POV you finally drop the cortisol belly,’ reads another. A third screams in caps lock, ‘HOW TO LOWER CORTISOL’. I’m sold. Cortisol is to blame for everything. But how do I fix it?2026 March 20, Brit Dawson, “‘I went on a cortisol ‘detox’ to tackle my spiralling anxiety — here’s what happened’”, in Cosmopolitan:
› Initialism of point of view.
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The vantage point of a particular person; (attributively) from that vantage point.
POV videos
Ms. Brier specializes in point of view, or P.O.V., videos that confront relatable, often hateable characters, with a subtle sneer, gleefully rubbery body and arch delivery of generational catchphrases like “slay, queen” and “I got you,” often repeated for effect.2023 March 14, Alexandra Jacobs, “Your Annoying Roommate Is Slaying on TikTok”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2023:
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The earliest discovered dwerking video was shared by a TikToker named @mojothewzzrd back in May. Like many dwerking videos, this original video has an unserious tone, given away by its POV caption.2025 July 8, Know Your Meme:
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Abbreviation, Initialism Initialism of privately owned vehicle.
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Business, Computing, Engineering, Finance, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, SciencesAbbreviation, Initialism Initialism of percentage of volume, a type of securities trading algorithm.
pov
adj
Etymology Abbreviation of poverty or clipping of impoverished.
Phantazeum is still in existence, on Chapel Street (the more pov end, not the yuppy end) ...1999 April 28, Gerard, “GAF clothes in Melbourne”, in aus.culture.gothic (Usenet):
Especially considering the most pov Astra is $18,990 and $20k gets you a fully loaded Pulsar...2002 June 2, Marco Spaccavento, “Focus to start at $23k!”, in aus.cars (Usenet):
pov
noun
Etymology Abbreviation of poverty or clipping of impoverished.
Well, mayor, it's based on the cash grab, but instead of money, the cans of food are blown around inside the capsule. The pov inside catches as many as he can to feed his family.1997, South Park (animated TV series), "Starvin' Marvin" (episode)