alphabet soup

noun

|Updated on: 4 Jul 2018

Examples: alphabet soup in a Sentence

Definition of alphabet soup

: a hodgepodge especially of initials (as of the names of organizations)

See alphabet soup defined for English-language learners

Examples of alphabet soup in a Sentence

a bowl of alphabet soup
the alphabet soup of designer drugs that were available to patrons of the once-notorious disco

Recent Examples of alphabet soup from the Web

The results could be loaded into a database that searches for long similarities in the alphabet soup.

— john moore, National Geographic, "Could DNA Testing Reunite Immigrant Families? Get the Facts.," 25 June 2018
Virtually every penny spent in those years went to an alphabet soup of programs like FERA, CWA, PWA, CCC, and the WPA.

— peter-christian aigner, The New Republic, "The Long, Tortured History of the Job Guarantee," 11 May 2018
But the business model Mr. Sorrell pioneered—snapping up an alphabet soup of ad agencies—is being called into question amid wider industry headwinds.

— nick kostov, WSJ, "WPP Shares Soar as Ad Giant Beats Forecasts, Raises Prospect of Disposals," 30 Apr. 2018
An alphabet soup of different consumer, privacy and media regulators will slowly try to ensnare the big tech firms.

— The Economist, "America’s antitrust apparatus prepares to act against big tech," 26 Apr. 2018
The rules are wonky, technical and often inscrutable, an alphabet soup of acronyms like MUDD, TOD and R-3.

— ely portillo, charlotteobserver, "‘It’s still very muddled.’ How rewriting zoning rules leaves city leaders confused. | Charlotte Observer," 6 Mar. 2018
Over the Wave’s 33-plus years, its league affiliation has been a bowl of alphabet soup, from AISA to NPSL to MISL to XSL to MISL to the current MASL – the Major Arena Soccer League.

— dave kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "He's the biggest Wisconsin sports star you probably don't know," 25 Jan. 2018
The group’s reinvention now should distinguish it from an alphabet soup of trade associations representing financial services interests in different guises.

— tory newmyer, Washington Post, "The Finance 202: Big banks mount hostile takeover of key trade association," 9 Jan. 2018
Fine-detail CT scanners can visualize the ink of letters inside such scrolls, but the alphabet soup is unreadable unless each letter can be assigned to its correct position on a surface.

— nicholas wade, New York Times, "Scanning an Ancient Biblical Text That Humans Fear to Open," 5 Jan. 2018

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