Word.ws English Dictionary

shorthands

shorthands is the plural of shorthand.

shorthands is the third-person singular simple present indicative of shorthand.

Meaning of shorthand

Noun

shorthand (countable and uncountable, plural shorthands)

  1. 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...
    Antonyms:
    longhand
  2. (broadly) Any brief or shortened way of saying or doing something.
    • The jargon becomes a shorthand for these advanced concepts.

See all 5 meanings of shorthand

Forms of shorthands

alternative formshort hands
alternative formshort-hands

Questions about shorthands

What is shorthands the plural of?
Shorthands is the plural of shorthand.

Words near shorthands in the dictionary

  1. shorthandedly
  2. shorthandedness
  3. shorthander
  4. shorthanders
  5. shorthanding
  6. shorthands
  7. shorthead redhorse
  8. shorthead redhorses
  9. shorthold
  10. shortholder
  11. shortholders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shorthands (page history and authors); shorthand (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “shorthands.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shorthands. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.