abbreviation

noun

ab·​bre·​vi·​a·​tion ə-ˌbrē-vē-ˈā-shən 

1

: a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole word or phrase

"Amt" is an abbreviation for "amount."

"USA" is an abbreviation of "United States of America."

2

: the act or result of abbreviating something : abridgment

I know you would not be satisfied with an abbreviation of its contents, and you shall have the whole, save, perhaps, a few passages here and there of merely temporary interest to the writer …

—Anne Brontë

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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.

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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.

Synonyms

• abridgment
• abridgement
• bowdlerization
• condensation
• digest

Examples of abbreviation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Some of the shipments were stamped with an abbreviation officials had never seen before: PCU, which stood for Primer Cartel Uruguayo. —Kevin Sieff, Washington Post, 18 July 2024

The abbreviation for this mutation is F456L + R346T. —Natalie Wallington, Kansas City Star, 18 July 2024

To that end, Lula set up the new Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger (known by its Portuguese abbreviation, MDS) to centralize oversight of Bolsa Família. —Jonathan Tepperman, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2015

The actress collaborated with French fashion brand A.P.C., an abbreviation for Atelier de Production et de Création, on a collection that merges French elegance with a New York style sensibility. —Julia Teti, WWD, 27 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English abbreviacioun "contraction, shortening," borrowed from Anglo-French abreviation, borrowed from Late Latin abbreviātiōn-, abbreviātiō, from abbreviāre "to abbreviate" + Latin -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of action nouns

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

abbreviation

noun

ab·​bre·​vi·​a·​tion ə-ˌbrē-vē-ˈā-shən 

1

: the act or result of abbreviating : abridgment

2

: a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole