Abbreviation vs. Former
Abbreviationnoun
The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
Formeradjective
Previous.
‘A former president;’; ‘the former East Germany’;
Abbreviationnoun
(linguistics) A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, utilizing omission of letters, and sometimes substitution of letters, or duplication of initial letters to signify plurality, including signs such as +, =, @.
Formeradjective
First of aforementioned two items. Used with the, often without a noun.
‘The former is a good idea but the latter is not.’; ‘I drive two vehicles, a Chevy Camaro and an AMC Gremlin. I won the former on a game show.’;
Abbreviationnoun
The process of abbreviating.
Formernoun
Someone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder.
‘Dave was the former of the company.’;
Abbreviationnoun
(music) A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
Formernoun
An object used to form something, such as a template, gauge, or cutting die.
‘The brick arch was built using a wooden former.’;
Abbreviationnoun
(music) One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
Formernoun
Someone in, or of, a certain form (class).
Abbreviationnoun
Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
Formernoun
One who forms; a maker; a creator.
Abbreviationnoun
(biology) Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
Formernoun
A shape around which an article is to be shaped, molded, woven wrapped, pasted, or otherwise constructed.
Abbreviationnoun
(mathematics) Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.
Formeradjective
Preceding in order of time; antecedent; previous; prior; earlier; hence, ancient; long past.
‘For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age.’; ‘The latter and former rain.’;
Abbreviationnoun
The act of shortening, or reducing.
Formeradjective
Near the beginning; preceeding; as, the former part of a discourse or argument.
Abbreviationnoun
The result of abbreviating; an abridgment.
Formeradjective
Earlier, as between two things mentioned together; first mentioned.
‘A bad author deserves better usage than a bad critic; a man may be the former merely through the misfortune of an ill judgment; but he can not be latter without both that and an ill temper.’;
Abbreviationnoun
The form to which a word or phrase is reduced by contraction and omission; a letter or letters, standing for a word or phrase of which they are a part; as, Gen. for Genesis; U.S.A. for United States of America.
Formernoun
the first of two or the first mentioned of two;
‘Tom and Dick were both heroes but only the former is remembered today’;
Abbreviationnoun
One dash, or more, through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, or demi-semiquavers.
Formeradjective
referring to the first of two things or persons mentioned (or the earlier one or ones of several);
‘the novel was made into a film in 1943 and again in 1967; I prefer the former version to the latter one’;
Abbreviationnoun
a shortened form of a word or phrase
Formeradjective
belonging to some prior time;
‘erstwhile friend’; ‘our former glory’; ‘the once capital of the state’; ‘her quondam lover’;
Abbreviationnoun
shortening something by omitting parts of it
Formeradjective
(used especially of persons) of the immediate past;
‘the former president’; ‘our late President is still very active’; ‘the previous occupant of the White House’;
Abbreviation
An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word abbreviation can itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr., abbrv., or abbrev.; NPO, for nil (or nothing) per (by) os (mouth) is an abbreviated medical instruction.
Formeradjective
of the distant past;
‘the early inhabitants of Europe’; ‘former generations’; ‘in other times’;
Former
A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature.
