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This site functions as a valuable reference for acronyms and initialisms, providing both an Acronym Finder, where you can search for acronyms based on keywords or phrases, and as an Acronym Dictionary, which provides a list of possible definitions for each acronym. There is also an Index of Acronym Definitions, which provides an alphabetical list of the expanded acronym meanings.
Note that the goal of Acronyms.net is not to provide an exhaustive list of every acronym meaning but to help developers determine which is the correct one and to promote use of the proper HTML code for acronyms and initialisms. For that purpose, each acronym definition includes the complete working HTML code that allows disambiguation of acronyms using web browser tool-tips. For more details, see the acronym reference for web developers.
New! The acronym usage examples have now been updated to properly inherit the acronym or acronym meaning based on the inheritance rules of the title attribute of the <abbr>, <dfn> and <a> tags in HTML 5.
An acronym is an abbreviation for a term or phrase formed using a subset of the letters of the words in whatever it means. The most commonly used acronym generator algorithm is to create an acronym using the starting letters of most or all of the words in its definition.
An Acronym Dictionary provides a list of possible definitions of each acronym or initialism. If you see an acronym used somewhere, this allows you to search for what the acronym means. While some acronym list sites on the Internet attempt to list all acronyms and their meanings, including (often humorous) misuses of acronyms, the lists of acronyms here are designed to allow web designers to make the proper use of acronyms on the web sites they develop.
An Acronym Finder is just what the name implies. It allows you to find an acronym based on what the acronym means. Our acronym reference pages also show how to properly use acronyms you find here. For example, if you look up the acronym for "Universal Coordinated Time" (get HTML code) (get HTML code) you will see that the acronym should be UTC , UTC , not "UCT", which is what you might expected by looking at the initial letters of the words in the acronym meaning.
To find an acronym, select the the first letter of any word in the acronym under Acronym Finder below, or under Terms if you know the first word of the term. To find the definition of acronyms in the acronym dictionary, select the initial letter of an acronym in the Acronym Meanings column below.