acronym

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ac·ro·nym

 (ăk′rə-nĭm′)
n.
1. 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.
2. Usage Problem An initialism.
[acr(o)- + -onym.]
ac′ro·nym′ic, a·cron′y·mous (ə-krŏn′ə-məs) adj.
Usage Note: In strict usage, the term acronym refers to a word made from the initial letters or parts of other words, such as sonar from so(und) na(vigation and) r(anging). The distinguishing feature of an acronym is that it is pronounced as if it were a single word, in the manner of NATO and NASA. Acronyms are often distinguished from initialisms like FBI and NIH, whose individual letters are pronounced as separate syllables. While observing this distinction has some virtue in precision, it may be lost on many people, for whom the term acronym refers to both kinds of abbreviations.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

acronym

(ˈækrənɪm)
n
a pronounceable name made up of a series of initial letters or parts of words; for example, UNESCO for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
[C20: from acro- + -onym]
ˌacroˈnymic, acronymous adj
ˌacroˈnymically adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ac•ro•nym

(ˈæk rə nɪm)

n.
1. a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of the words in a name or phrase, as Wac from Women's Army Corps, or loran from long-range navigation.
2. an acrostic.
[1940–45; acr- + -onym]
ac`ro•nym′ic, a•cron•y•mous (əˈkrɒn ə məs) adj.
ac`ro•nym′i•cal•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
initialism, alphabetism, acronym - Initialisms (sometimes called alphabetisms) are formed from the initial letters of a string of words and are pronounced as a sequence of letters, e.g. BYOB, USA, DVD. Acronyms are formed from the initial letters or parts of words in a sequence, but have the distinction of being pronounceable words, e.g. RADAR, SCUBA.
See also related terms for sequence.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.

acronym

a word formed from the initial letters or syllables taken from a group of words that form the name of a company, product, process, etc. — acronymic, acronymous, adj.
See also: Names
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

acronym

A word made up of initials or parts of other words, for example, NATO.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.acronym - a word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the nameacronym - a word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name
snafu - an acronym often used by soldiers in World War II: situation normal all fucked up
MPEG - a set of standards adopted by the moving pictures experts group for the compression of digital video and audio data or a file of data compressed according to those standards
descriptor, form, signifier, word form - the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something; "the inflected forms of a word can be represented by a stem and a list of inflections to be attached"
DINK - a couple who both have careers and no children (an acronym for dual income no kids)
weakly interacting massive particle, WIMP - a hypothetical subatomic particle of large mass that interacts weakly with ordinary matter through gravitation; postulated as a constituent of the dark matter of the universe
NIMBY - someone who objects to siting something in their own neighborhood but does not object to it being sited elsewhere; an acronym for not in my backyard
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
akronym
akronym
akronyymikirjainlyhennekirjainsana
ראשי תיבות
akronim
betűszómozaikszó
頭字語アクロニム
두문자어
acrogramaacronimoacrónimoacrônimosigla
acronim
kratica
akronym
ตัวย่อ
từ viết tắt

acronym

[ˈækrənɪm] N → sigla(s) f(pl), acrónimo m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

acronym

[ˈækrənɪm] n → acronyme m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

acronym

n → Akronym nt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

acronym

[ˈækrənɪm] n → acronimo
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

acronym

→ اِسْم مُخْتَصَر akronym akronym Akronym αρκτικόλεξο acrónimo kirjainlyhenne sigle akronim acronimo 頭字語 두문자어 acroniem akronym akronim acrónimo, acrônimo аббревиатура akronym ตัวย่อ kısaltma từ viết tắt 首字母缩写词
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
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