Abbreviation

/əˌbɹiː.viˈeɪ.ʃən/ · noun

Meaning

The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment..

Definitions by Sense

1. The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
2. (linguistics) A shortened or contracted 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 +, =, @.
3. The process of abbreviating.
4. (music) A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
5. (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. (biology) Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
8. (mathematics) Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.

Example Sentences

Hants is an abbreviation of Hampshire.

Americans, for example, call newcomers to Antarctica “fingies”, which comes from FNGs – a borrowed military abbreviation that means “Fucking New Guy”.

The phrase "civil rights" is an abbreviation for a whole complex of relationships.

Synonyms for abbreviation

Antonyms for abbreviation

Related Words

Word Forms

• abbreviations
• abbr.
• abbrv.
• abbrev.

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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