Acronymize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To create a shortened form of a phrase by using the initial letters of each word ; to transform a full expression into a string of initials representing it ; to convert a term or title into its abbreviated synonymous form using uppercase letters
2. The act of forming a brief representation of a longer term by selecting its leading characters ; the process of reducing a phrase to a compact combination of letters that stands for the original ; changing a multi-word name into a sequence of initials for ease of reference
3. Producing a condensed version of a phrase by extracting and combining the first letters of its components ; the conversion of a complex expression into a shortened letter-based symbol ; summarizing a descriptive term into a set of initials to facilitate quicker communication

Etymology: "Acronym" was coined in the 1940s and built from Greek roots, so "acronymize" is a much younger creation than the word that spawned it: a verb formed by attaching the suffix "-ize", which turns a noun into a verb meaning to make or treat something in a particular way, to the existing noun "acronym". The combination describes the act of turning a longer name or phrase into a compact string of letters. The underlying noun is itself a compound of Greek elements: "akron", meaning "tip" or "extremity", and "onoma", meaning "name". Together they literally suggest a name made from the extremities of a longer one, which fits the way an acronym is built from the first letters or leading parts of its words. Because "acronym" is a relatively recent English formation, the verb built on it is recent too, and its meaning follows the noun closely.

Synonyms: abbreviate, shorten, contract

Antonyms: expand, lengthen