abbreviation

Fetched 2026-10-26 (cache).

Synonyms: abbreviations, abbreviator, abbreviating

Antonyms: abbreviations, abbreviator, abbreviating

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

1. The result of shortening or [[reduce|reducing]]; [[abridgment]]. {{defdate|First attested around 1350 to 1470.}}<ref name=SOED>{{R:SOED5|page=3}}</ref>
2. {{lb|en|linguistics}} A [[shorten]]ed or [[contract]]ed 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 +, =, @. {{defdate|Late 16^th century.}}<ref name=SOED/> {{rfquote-sense|en}}
3. The process of abbreviating. {{defdate|Mid 16^th century.}}<ref name=SOED/>
4. {{lb|en|music}} A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
5. {{lb|en|music}} One or more dashes through the stem of a note, [[dividing]] it [[respectively]] into [[quavers]], [[semiquavers]], [[demisemiquavers]], or [[hemidemisemiquavers]].
6. Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
7. {{lb|en|biology}} Loss during [[evolution]] of the final stages of the ancestral [[ontogenetic]] pattern.
8. {{lb|en|mathematics}} [[reduction|Reduction]] to lower [[term]]s, as a [[fraction]].

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wiktionary dump) · cached copy, not a rewrite.