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What is the difference between the words acronym and initialism?
Acronym is a fairly recent word, dating from the 1940s, although acronyms existed long before we gave them that name. The term was preceded in English by the word initialism, meaning an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of a phrase, and which has been in use since the late 19th century.
Some people feel strongly that acronym should only be used for terms like NATO, which is pronounced as a single word, and that initialism should be used if the individual letters are all pronounced distinctly, as with FBI. Our research shows that acronym is commonly used to refer to both types of abbreviations.
Examples of initialism in a Sentence
Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, 30 July 2024
National Rally, also known by its French initialism, RN, gained supporters after its leader, Marine Le Pen, steered it away from its roots as an extreme ethnocentric party.
—Josh Feldman, NBC News, 30 June 2024
Critics of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are latching on to a new initialism dubiously similar to DEI.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 24 June 2024
Acronyms, initialisms and slang help shorten our conversations.
—Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, 25 Apr. 2024
For Kamm, now part of the group Turn Off the Tap on Tesla (known by its German initialism TDHA), the battle against the company is both personal and political.
—Morgan Meaker, WIRED, 7 May 2024
There are many ways a clue can indicate an abbreviation, initialism or acronym.
—Sam Corbin, New York Times, 28 May 2023
The additions to the initialism LGBTQ are I (which stands for intersex folks) and A (asexual).
—Megan Lasher, Seventeen, 6 Apr. 2023
And yet there is something about the homogeneity of these definitions, their recourse to coddling cliché, that makes critical race theory seem like just another version of a fluffier and more familiar three-word initialism, D.E.I.—diversity, equity, and inclusion.
—Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 27 July 2021
Dictionary Entries Near initialism
Cite this Entry
“Initialism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/initialism. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
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