Meaning & use
shorthands
Last updated
systems of rapid handwriting using abbreviations or symbols in place of letters or words, or convenient simplified terms used to represent complex ideas.
See it in a sentence
Court reporters once relied on shorthands like Pitman and Gregg to transcribe testimony in real time.
Economists use several shorthands, such as 'GDP', to summarize complicated statistics.
A note on using this word
The word extends beyond handwriting systems to any compressed way of referring to something, as in 'a shorthand for the whole debate'.
Words with a similar meaning
abbreviationsstenography systems
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