Acronym Finder (AF) is a free, online, searchable dictionary and database of

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

s (

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

initialism An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

s, and others) and their meanings. The entries are classified into categories such as ''

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...

, Military/Government, Science,

Slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gr ...

Pop Culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

'' etc. It also contains a database of the United States and Canadian postal codes. For abbreviations with multiple meanings, they are listed by popularity, with the most common one being listed first. it claims to have over a million "''human-edited''" and verified

definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definiti ...

History

Acronym Finder was registered and the database put online by Michael K. Molloy of Colorado in 1997, but he began compiling it in 1985, working as a computer systems officer for the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

. Molloy first saw the need of an acronym list while integrating computers at the

Randolph Air Force Base Randolph Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located at Universal City, Texas ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the Un ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, his first acronym list running up to 30 pages. When he had retired and put AF online in 1997, his list already had 43,000 acronyms. It began mainly as a list of Military/Government abbreviations before expanding to other areas. Molloy and his wife served as the editors of the website, verifying user submissions for abbreviations and adding others they found to the database. Molloy has also provided opinions on abbreviations such as "''MSG''" which

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

wanted as a domain name (''msg.com''), claiming trademark to the abbreviated letters. He stated that MSG also stood for more common things such as

monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer ...

and message, among others. The Garden in the end settled out of court and came to ow
msg.com
The website was maintained under Mountain Data Systems, LLC by Molloy, before being sold off and eventually coming under the ownership of ''Farlex, Inc.'' publishers of

Thefreedictionary.com ''The Free Dictionary'' is an American online dictionary and encyclopedia that aggregates information from various sources. Content The site cross-references the contents of ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', the '' ...

Content

The website contains a database of meanings and expansions for

s mainly in English but includes some entries in other languages such as French, German, Spanish etc. as well. It is freely accessible. The entries are further classified into categories such as ''

, Military/Government, Science,

'' etc. It also contains a database of US and

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

postal codes which are shown on a Map along with location information. Abbreviations with multiple expansions are listed by popularity with the most common one being presented first, these can be sorted alphabetically as well.GIRALDO ORTIZ, John Jairo
Management of initialisms in the online abbreviations dictionary Acronym Finder
''Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología''. Jul.-Dec. 2008, vol. 31, no. 2, p. 101-117 Anyone can contribute to the database by submitting abbreviations and their meanings, these are reviewed by an editor and categorized before being added to the database. While the database has been described as fairly accurate errors have been found in the meanings and expansions of abbreviations. The website does not list sources for the abbreviations and their meanings but it does identify people who have contributed more than 50 abbreviations to the database. The database only contains abbreviations and their expansions and does not list other data such as grammatical category, context, source, field of the abbreviation etc. Farlex, Inc. The current owner of the website also publishes mobile apps for the Android and iOS operating systems. Acronym Finder also includes a ''Systematic Buzz Phrase Projector'', a light-hearted tool that

random In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual ran ...

ly generates jargon-like phrases and abbreviations — usually

initialisms An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

that would be unpronounceable as

acronyms An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

— and meanings from 30 cleverly chosen buzz words. The website is supported through advertisements.

Reputation

The website is listed as a quick reference tool in directories like Stanford Library, Library of Congress, USC Library. It has been cited as the largest database of acronyms and has been used in computational studies for its database. Listings of abbreviations on the website have also been used as a defense that an abbreviation is in public use and cannot be trademarked. While in some trademark cases citations for AF have been accepted it has been described as an unreliable reference in others. It has garnered criticism for the fact that anyone can submit abbreviations to the site and the content is user generated. Mike Molloy the site's original owner had defended that each submission is verified before being added to the database.

References

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External links

Official Website
Abbreviations Internet properties established in 1997