abbreviations

Noun

abbreviation (countable and uncountable, plural abbreviations)

1. The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
2. 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.
3. The process of abbreviating.
4. A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
5. 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.
   • The phrase "civil rights" is an abbreviation for a whole complex of relationships.1946-1947, Harry S. Truman, President Truman's committee on Civil Rights

See all 8 meanings of abbreviation