Main Difference
The main difference between Acronym and Abbreviation is that the Acronym is a abbreviation made out of the first letters of the words of a sequence and Abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase.
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Acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed as an abbreviation from the initial components in a phrase or a word, usually individual letters (as in NATO or laser) and sometimes syllables (as in Benelux).
There are no universal standards of the multiple names for such abbreviations and of their orthographic styling. In English and most other languages, such abbreviations historically had limited use, but they became much more common in the 20th century. Acronyms are a type of word formation process, and they are viewed as a subtype of blending.
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Abbreviation
An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short ) is a shortened form of a word or phrase. It consists of a group of letters taken from the word or phrase. For example, the word abbreviation can itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr., abbrv., or abbrev.
In strict analysis, abbreviations should not be confused with contractions, crasis, acronyms, or initialisms, with which they share some semantic and phonetic functions, though all four are connected by the term “abbreviation” in loose parlance.An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a contraction is a reduction of size by the drawing together of the parts. A contraction of a word is made by omitting certain letters or syllables and bringing together the first and last letters or elements; an abbreviation may be made by omitting certain portions from the interior or by cutting off a part. A contraction is an abbreviation, but an abbreviation is not necessarily a contraction. Acronyms and initialisms are regarded as subsets of abbreviations (e.g. by the Council of Science Editors). They are abbreviations that consist of the initial letters or parts of words.
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Acronym (noun)
An abbreviation formed by the initial letters of other words, sometimes exclusively such abbreviations when pronounced as a word (as “laser”) rather than as individual letters (initialisms such as “TNT”).
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Acronym (noun)
An abbreviation formed by the beginning letters or syllables of other words (as “Benelux”).
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Acronym (verb)
To form into an acronym
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Abbreviation (noun)
The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment. First attested around 1350 to 1470.page=3
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Abbreviation (noun)
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 +, =, @. Late 16th century.
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Abbreviation (noun)
The process of abbreviating. Mid 16th century.
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Abbreviation (noun)
A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
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Abbreviation (noun)
One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
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Abbreviation (noun)
Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
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Abbreviation (noun)
Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
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Abbreviation (noun)
Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.
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Acronym (noun)
an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. ASCII, NASA).