noun

acronym

AK-ruh-nihm

noun

A word formed from the first letters of a longer phrase, especially one pronounced as a single word rather than spelled out.

""NASA" is an acronym for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."

"The report was full of acronyms that new employees struggled to decode."

How to Use Acronym

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA short word made from the initial letters of a longer name or phrase.

Common mistake

Strictly, an acronym is pronounced as a word (like "laser"); if the letters are said individually (like "FBI"), that's technically an initialism, though many people use "acronym" for both.

Common pairings

common acronym stands for acronym for

Word Forms

acronymed past tense, acronymmed past tense, acronyms plural, acronyms singular

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"NASA" is an _____ for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Etymology

Borrowed from German Akronym, built from Greek akron ("tip, end") and onyma ("name"), on the model of "homonym" and "synonym." First used in the early 1900s in German and by 1940 in English.

Rhymes for acronym

pseudonym

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