acronym
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name and pronounced as one word.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
akruhnimSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈækɹənɪm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
linguistics
A word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name and pronounced as one word
Generally such abbreviations, including those pronounced as individual letters (initialisms such as "TNT").
Exclusively such abbreviations when pronounced as a word (as "laser" or "NATO").
linguistics
An abbreviation formed by the initial letters of other words.
verb
To form into an acronym.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name and pronounced as one word
An 'acronym' is a type of initialism where the letters form a pronounceable word, like NASA or SCUBA. This distinguishes it from initialisms like FBI or USA, which are pronounced letter by letter.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where you'll really hear it
English class
“An acronym is pronounced as a word, not individual letters.”
Technical writing
“We use an acronym to simplify the long technical name for the system.”
Casual conversation
“Is 'LOL' an acronym or an initialism? I can never remember.”
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.