Del

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. A shortened term commonly used in technology to refer to a keyboard key that deletes selected text or objects ; an abbreviation for a computer file operation that removes items ; a shorthand for the word “delete” in digital contexts
2. Serving as a standard symbol for the action of erasing content on computers ; acting as a label for commands that remove digital material ; functioning as an informal contraction of “delete” in written and electronic usage
3. Used in computing to indicate the key or command that eliminates selected elements ; representing the act of digitally discarding files or text ; an abbreviated form for the instruction “delete” in technological settings

Etymology: The symbol ∇ (nabla) is the inverted Greek delta, and the English word "del" takes its name from it. Its earliest use is in vector calculus, where the inverted delta marks a differential operator, and in that field the symbol has long been read aloud as "del." The name thus came from a mathematical symbol rather than from the English word "delete." The mathematical sense is only one strand. In computing, "del" became the usual label for the key or command that removes material, and as a result it has also been used informally as a shortened form of "delete" in writing and electronic messages. The shortening is a plain clipping of the longer verb, so the computing sense owes its existence to the older mathematical name and to the ordinary English verb it abbreviates.

Synonyms: delete, remove, erase, eliminate, discard

Antonyms: add, insert, include, retain, keep