Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A word formed by combining the initial letters of a multipart name, such as NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization or by combining the initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar from radio detecting and ranging.
- noun Usage Problem An initialism.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
abbreviation formed by (usually initial)letters taken from a word or series of words, that is itself pronounced as a word, such asRAM ,radar , orscuba ; sometimes contrasted withinitialism . - noun A pronounceable word formed from the beginnings (letter or syllable) of other words and thus representing the phrase so formed, e.g. Benelux = the countries Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg considered as a political or economic whole.
- noun Any abbreviation so formed, regardless of pronunciation, such as
TNT ,IBM , orXML .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In the book it states the letters in the title acronym stand for the four main components of productive meetings.
PR.com Press Releases Shirley Fine Lee 2010
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The group, whose acronym is Spanish for "enough," said if the council members don't step down by Monday's council meeting, it will begin working for their recall.
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Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA): This acronym is short for the "Super Video Graphics Array" display mode.
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Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA): This acronym is short for the "Super Video Graphics Array" display mode.
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Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA): This acronym is short for the "Super Video Graphics Array" display mode.
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Video Graphics Array (VGA): This acronym is short for the "Video Graphics Array" display mode.
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Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA): This acronym is short for the "Super Video Graphics Array" display mode.
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Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA): This acronym is short for the "Super Video Graphics Array" display mode.
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Video Graphics Array (VGA): This acronym is short for the "Video Graphics Array" display mode.
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The term acronym, although said to have originated some time in the 1940s, took time to achieve dictionary recognition.
hallettj commented on the word acronym
My worst pet peeve when it comes to language is the use of the word acronym. I often hear it used to describe any kind of abbreviation - when its original usage actually refers to an abbreviation that itself is pronounced as a word.
I realize that some of the dictionary definitions linked here give both definitions; and I grant that acronym is an awesome word, so I can understand why people would want to use it more often. But it makes me sad to hear the meaningful distinction between these two words disappear.
December 9, 2006
alexz commented on the word acronym
I prefer the word acronym over initialism , according to Google's ngram viewer, this word picked up steam in the sixties, took off and is now more popular by orders of magnitude.
At this point, it's a handful of people at Wiktionary trying to hold onto the word initialism
August 25, 2022
ruzuzu commented on the word acronym
I like that the American Heritage Dictionary notes that this has a "usage problem." I wonder how many other usage problems are out there.
*wanders off to make a list*
August 25, 2022
bilby commented on the word acronym
initialism gives one the sick, so it does.
August 26, 2022