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Initialism
ɪ'nɪʃəlɪz(ə)m
an abbreviation [1] consisting of initial letters pronounced separately (e.g. BBC)
An initialism often looks like an acronym because it is also usually based on the first letters of the terms it abbreviates, but acronyms are pronounced as a series of letters.
- Examples: FBI, CIA, AOL, NBA, UFO
some dictionaries and usage commentators define acronym to mean "a word, usually pronounced as such", in contradistinction to an initialism (or alphabetism)—a word or abbreviation formed from a string of initials — whereas some others include additional senses equating acronym with initialism. The distinction, when made, hinges on whether the abbreviation is pronounced as a word or as a string of individual letters. Examples in reference works that make the distinction include NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/, scuba /ˈskuːbə/, and radar /ˈreɪdɑr/ for acronyms, and FBI /ˌɛfˌbiːˈaɪ/, CRT /ˌˈsiːˌɑrˌtiː/, and HTML /ˌeɪtʃˌtiːˌɛmˈɛl/ for initialisms.The rest of this article uses acronym for both types of abbreviation.
- Part of Speech: noun
- Synonym(s):
- Blossary:
- Industry/Domain: Literature; Education
- Category: Literary terms; General education
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