abbreviation
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˌbɹiː.viˈeɪ.ʃən/
ipa: /əˌbɹi.viˈeɪ.ʃn̩/
rhymes: -eɪʃən
Forms: form: abbreviations
form: abbr.
form: abbrv.
form: abbrev.
Etymology: First attested 1400–50. From Middle English abbreviacioun, from Middle French abreviation, from Ecclesiastical Latin abbreviātiō, from Latin ad + breviō (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”). By surface analysis, abbreviate + -ion.
Senses: glosses: The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
examples: text: Hants is an abbreviation of Hampshire.
text: Americans, for example, call newcomers to Antarctica “fingies”, which comes from FNGs – a borrowed military abbreviation that means “Fucking New Guy”.
ref: 2024 June 20, Eva Corlett, “Fidlets, fingies and riding a doo: study sheds light on Antarctic English slang”, in The Guardian:
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: 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 +, =, @.
glosses: The process of abbreviating.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
examples: text: The phrase "civil rights" is an abbreviation for a whole complex of relationships.
ref: 1946-1947, Harry S. Truman, President Truman's committee on Civil Rights:
glosses: Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.
Synonyms: abbreviature
abridgement
abstract
compend
compression
condensation
contraction
curtailment
epitome
reduction
shortcut
summary
Hyponyms: topics: linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
english: employing initial letters or syllables
translation: employing initial letters or syllables
word: acronym
topics: linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: omitting several letters
word: clipping
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: i
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: n
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: t
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: a
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: l
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: s
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: m
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: e
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: p
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: o
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: y
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: g
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: r
topics: linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
sense: omitting several letters
word: symbol
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: k
qualifier: omitting several letters
sense: omitting several letters
word: h
Derived terms: abbreviationitis
graphic abbreviation
syllabic abbreviation
unabbreviation