abbreviations

noun

  1. The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.

  2. A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, utilizing omission of letters, and sometimes substitution of letters, or duplication of initial letters to signify plurality, including signs such as +, =, @.

  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.

  7. Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.

  8. Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.

Synonyms: abbreviature, abridgement, abstract, compend, compression, condensation, contraction, curtailment, epitome, reduction, shortcut, summary
Antonyms: amplification, dilation, enlargement, expansion, expatiation, extension, production