Sunday, January 20, 2008

Abbreviate, brevity and brief...

Abbreviate (V): shorten (a word, phrase, or text).

This word can be split up as "ad" (as in ad infinitum (without limit)) which means "to" + "breviare" which is verb root, in turn it comes from the Latin root "brevis", which means "short". So abbreviate literally means "to shorten".


Abbreviation (N): a shortened form of a word.


Contextual example:

Acronyms and abbreviations are different; an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or a phrase for example: "miss" is an abbreviation of "mistress". Whilst acronym is strictly formed from the initial letters of the words, for example LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation).


Brevity (N):

  • Concise and exact use words.

  • Shortness of time.


Contextual example:

The Spartans were known for brevity of speech.


Synonyms: conciseness, curtness, pithiness, succinctness, terseness.


Antonyms: lengthiness, wordiness, long-windedness.



Anchor words:

In order to make the task of remembering this root a tad easy,you can use the word "brief" as an anchor word.



Feedback, cognates, discussion are as always welcome.

Regards,
V

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