Definition of ABBREVIATION

What is an abbreviation?

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a written word or phrase. Abbreviations may be used to save space and time, to avoid repetition of long words and phrases, or simply to conform to conventional usage.

The styling of abbreviations is inconsistent and arbitrary and includes many possible variations. Some abbreviations are formed by omitting all but the first few letters of a word; such abbreviations usually end in a period: Oct. for October, univ. for university, and cont. for continued. Other abbreviations are formed by omitting letters from the middle of the word and usually also end in a period: govt. for government, Dr. for Doctor, and atty. for attorney. Abbreviations for the names of states in the U.S. are two capitalized letters, e.g., AR for Arkansas, ME for Maine, and TX for Texas.

Acronyms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters of an expanded phrase and usually do not include periods: PR for public relations, CEO for chief executive officer, and BTW for by the way. Some acronyms are pronounced as words: FEMA for Federal Emergency Management Agency and NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Although some people assert that all acronyms not pronounced as words, such as EPA for Environmental Protection Agency, be referred to as initialisms, the term acronym is in fact applied to both.

What's the difference between an abbreviation and an acronym?

Some people are unsure of whether to call ASAP or appt abbreviations or acronyms. 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. For example, NATO comes from “North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” and ASAP comes from “as soon as possible.” Abbreviations, on the other hand, can be shortened forms of words or phrases, and need not necessarily be made up of the initial letters of either. ASAP and appt (for appointment) are both considered abbreviations, but only ASAP is an acronym. Acronyms are a type of abbreviation.

Examples of abbreviation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, known by its abbreviation Calpers, suffered a 48% drop in the value of its real estate portfolio in fiscal 2009 and another 11% drop in fiscal 2010, according to the fund’s financial reports. — Heather Gillers, WSJ, "U.S. Pension Funds Turn to Riskier Real-Estate Bets," 26 Nov. 2018 While other algorithms that try to do the same thing have been stymied by doctors’ abbreviations, Amazon claims to have trained its system to recognize the idiosyncrasies in how doctors take notes, sources told the WSJ. — Angela Chen, The Verge, "Amazon will reportedly sell software that reads medical records," 27 Nov. 2018 The organization is commonly known by the abbreviation UNIA. — Jordan Friedman, USA TODAY, "From Jamaica's Marcus Garvey came an African vision of freedom," 14 Feb. 2018 In the world of banking, there is an abbreviation that is considered sacrosanct: K.Y.C., or Know Your Customer. — Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, "Citigroup Acted. Now, Two New Ideas on How Banks Can Limit Gun Sales.," 26 Mar. 2018 Officers are encouraged to note down rules on spelling abbreviations, common misspellings, and sentence lengths. — Chris Stokel-walker, The Atlantic, "The Linguist Who Helps Police Catch Child Predators," 10 July 2018 The analytics tribe gives it a shot, with inscrutable formulas featuring exotic abbreviations. — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Paul Daugherty: Forget numbers when deciding Billy Hamilton's value to the Cincinnati Reds," 7 July 2018 Text messages should be brief and easily understood and should not include any abbreviations, emojis or slang. — Arielle Kass, ajc, "Fulton County rolls out 911 texting option in five cities," 6 July 2018 Tippett’s meaning seems clear despite 18th century phrasing and abbreviations, not to mention capitalization that looks erratic to 20th century eyes. — James Barron, New York Times, "A Colonial Cemetery in a Park, and a Question: Does the City Own It?," 28 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'abbreviation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.