Definition | Meaning

1. Any name formed from first letter or letters of the words in a phrase (IRS, the Internal Revenue Service), the syllables or components of one word (TNT, trinitrotoluene), or a combination of words and syllables (ESP, extrasensory perception) and usually pronounced by spelling out the letters one by one.

Example | Illustration

• The few advantages of a commercial acronym are that it may challenge the consumer to ‘solve the puzzle’, as if it were a vanity license plate (TCBY, The Country’s Best Yogurt), or else present the consumer with a prefabricated bit of upscale slang (DKNY, Donna Karan New York and MGD, Miller Genuine Draft).
• The chief disadvantage of an initialism is that it may be unintelligible and forgettable without a prohibitive investment in advertising. It took James Earl Jones to make“This is CNN” a meaningful phrase.

Etymology | Origin

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• acronym