Apps

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Programs developed to enhance user experience on devices by offering tailored functionalities for tasks and services
2. Small software applications designed to provide users with specific utilities on mobile and computing devices
3. Software engineered to perform particular functions on electronic devices to assist users with various activities

Etymology: "App" is a clipping of "application," and the short form has a clear date. The full word "application" came into English in the 1400s, from Latin "applicatio," and for centuries meant the act of applying something or a request, such as a written application for a job. Computing borrowed the longer word in the 1960s and 70s to mean a program run for a particular purpose, and users and developers trimmed it to "app" by the 1980s, which is when the shortened form appears in print. The clipping took off with the arrival of smartphones and their stores. Apple's App Store opened in 2008, and the plural "apps" quickly became the everyday term for the small, focused programs people download to their phones. The word has come full circle in a sense, since "application" in its old meaning of a request or form still exists alongside it, but "app" now means almost exclusively a piece of software.

Synonyms: applications, programs, software