abbreviation
UK /əˌbɹiː.viˈeɪ.ʃən/ · US /əˌbɹi.viˈeɪ.ʃn̩/ noun
Forms abbreviations abbr. abbrv. abbrev.
- noun The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
- noun (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 +, =, @. “Hants is an abbreviation of Hampshire.”
- noun The process of abbreviating.
- noun (music) A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
- noun (music) One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
- noun Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
- noun (biology) Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
- noun (mathematics) Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.
Synonyms
abbreviature abridgement abstract compend compression condensation contraction curtailment epitome reduction shortcut summary
Antonyms
amplification dilation enlargement expansion expatiation extension production
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of shortening, or reducing.
- noun The result of abbreviating; an abridgment. Tylor.
Etymology [LL. abbreviatio: cf. F. abbréviation.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “abbreviation”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details