noun
- plural of initialism; abbreviations formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced letter by letter
Examples
- FBI and CIA are common initialisms in American government.
- The teacher explained that initialisms like DVD and ATM are pronounced letter by letter.
- Many initialisms have become so common that people forget what the letters stand for.
- Students often confuse initialisms with acronyms in their writing assignments.
- The document contained several initialisms that needed to be spelled out on first use.
- Business communications frequently use initialisms like CEO and HR.