shorthand
Syllables: short·hand/ˈʃɔːthænd/US/ˈʃɔɹthænd/
shorthand noun: a rough and rapid method of writing by substituting symbols for letters, words, etc.
Noun
shorthand (countable and uncountable, plural shorthands)
- A rough and rapid method of writing by substituting symbols for letters, words, etc.
- There is a Notion prevails among many People, to yͤ prejudice of all kinds of Short-hand; which is this. That when a Person sets down a Memorandum in his pocket Book in Short-hand, it is lost, in caſe of Death or any other accident, to yͤ rest of yͤ World, though it may contain things of great...1747 November 30, Aulay Macaulay, “Advertisement”, in Polygraphy or Short-hand Made Easy to the Meanest Capacity: Being an Universal Character Fitted to All Languages: […], London: Printed for the...
- All ſhort Hands are ſubject to Ambiguity; for there being but 8 Marks to repreſent 24 Letters, and thoſe 8 being uſed for 8 of them in the Short Hand Alphabets, the other Letters muſt be deſcribed by Characters compounded of theſe 8.1748 May 26, Samuel Jeake, “XIV. The Elements of a Short Hand.”, in Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, of the Ingenious, in Many...
- Synonyms:
- brachygraphy, stenography, phonography
- Antonyms:
- longhand
- Any brief or shortened way of saying or doing something.
- The jargon becomes a shorthand for these advanced concepts.
- It is important to recall that the European construct of "the Indian" and the abstraction designated as "Native American religion" are both artificial labels suggesting a unity that is nowhere to be found. When we borrow such shorthands, we are really referring to the Arapaho, Blackfeet, Chumash...2004, Edwin S[cott] Gaustad, Leigh E. Schmidt, “Beginnings”, in The Religious History of America, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, →ISBN, part I (Religion in the Colonial Era), page 6
Verb
shorthand (third-person singular simple present shorthands, present participle shorthanding, simple past and past participle shorthanded)
- To render (spoken or written words) into shorthand.
- All the time she'd pretended to be fiddling with her purse over there behind the man, she'd been shorthanding him down—every word, every quotation, every date, every name.1947, Bill [i.e., Elijah William] Cunningham, The Pearl of Her Sex, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 23
- Most everything is in the safe on digital media, but there were some sessions he didn't record. He'd just shorthanded his notes during and after the sessions. I never learned shorthand, so there's no way I could decipher most of it, if you know what I mean.2012, J. L. Dobias, chapter 19, in Cripple Mode: Hot Electric, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 383–384
- To use a brief or shortened way of saying or doing something.
- It seems to me, however one looks at it—and I am torpedoing, "shorthanding", my arguments, though they can be developed at great length—that there is no military case for a large standing Army, and I pick out three arguments that I think are tremendously important which I should like the Minister...1957 November 7, George Brown, “Queen’s Speech: Debate on the Address”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): House of Commons Official Report (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 577...
- By "home video" I mean to shorthand the practice of viewing at home texts that come to us via a range of sources and formats, such as cable/satellite and pay-per-view television, mail order services (that send in the mail gay-related videotapes to far-flung subscribers), Web-based media...2003, Amy Villarejo, “Conclusion: Straight to Video”, in Lesbian Rule: Cultural Criticism and the Value of Desire, Durham, N.C.; London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 191
- To write in shorthand.
- Steele nodded and settled on the chesterfield. He regarded Betty seriously, her notebook poised on the table beside her as she reclined in her chair. [...] "I remember," Betty acknowledged, and went on shorthanding.1953, Vargo Statten [pseudonym; John Russell Fearn], chapter 1, in Pioneer 1990 (Scion Science Fiction), London: Scion, →OCLC; republished London: Gateway, 2015, →ISBN
shorthand meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
shorthand in Hindi
- rough and rapid method of writing
- आशुलिपि āśulipi
shorthand in Tamil
- சுருக்கெழுத்து
shorthand in Marathi
- लघुलिपि
shorthand in Bengali
- সংক্ষিপ্ত লিপি, স্টেনোগ্রাফি
More languagesFewer languages
- shorthand in Telugu
- సంక్షిప్తలిపి
- shorthand in Kannada
- ಶೀಘ್ರ ಲಿಪಿ, ಸಂಕ್ಷಿಪ್ತ ಲಿಪಿ, ಬಿರುಸು ಬರೆತ
- shorthand in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ਾਰਟਹੈਂਡ, ਸ਼ਾਰਟਹੈਂਡ ਤੱਕ
- shorthand in Gujarati
- લઘુલિપિ
- shorthand in Odia
- ସର୍ଟହାଣ୍ଡ, ସର୍ଟହାଣ୍ଡ୍
- shorthand in Thai
- ชวเลข chá-wá-lêek
- shorthand in Vietnamese
- tốc kí
Examples of shorthand in a sentence
- In writing shorthand words are always to be spelled as they are sounded, and without any regard to orthography.1821, P[eregrine] Bingham [the Younger], “On Shorthand Spelling and Punctuation, and on the Effect of the Position of Characters According...
- The origin of shorthand writing has been variously attributed to the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans.1918, Isaac Pitman, A History of Shorthand, 4th edition, London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. […], →OCLC, page 1:
- Right away you say that nobody learns how to read shorthand.1986, Rudolf Flesch, “A Letter to Johnny’s Mother”, in Why Johnny Can’t Read – and What You can Do about It, 1st Perennial Library edition...
- Trust me, he's Pakistani, because that's the average numpty's shorthand for Muslim.2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 119:
Synonyms of shorthand
Antonyms
Forms of shorthand
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shorthands |
| alternative form | short hand |
| alternative form | short-hand |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shorthands |
| present participle | shorthanding |
| past participle | shorthanded |
| past | shorthanded |
Origin of shorthand
The noun is derived from short + hand (“handwriting; style of penmanship”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Words formed from shorthand
Phrases with shorthand
Questions about shorthand
- What does shorthand mean?
- Shorthand means a rough and rapid method of writing by substituting symbols for letters, words, etc.
- What is shorthand in Hindi?
- Shorthand in Hindi is आशुलिपि (āśulipi). See Shorthand meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use shorthand in a sentence?
- In writing shorthand words are always to be spelled as they are sounded, and without any regard to orthography.
- What part of speech is shorthand?
- Shorthand can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce shorthand?
- Shorthand is pronounced /ˈʃɔːthænd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of shorthand?
- The plural of shorthand is shorthands.
Words near shorthand in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shorthand (page history and authors); shorthand (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shorthand (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shorthand (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shorthand (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shorthand (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shorthand (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shorthand (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shorthand (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-shorthand.oga.
Cite this entry: “shorthand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shorthand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.