shorthand
Americannoun
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a method of rapid handwriting using simple strokes, abbreviations, or symbols that designate letters, words, or phrases (distinguished from longhand).
-
a simplified or makeshift manner or system of communication.
We spoke in a kind of pidgin shorthand to overcome the language barrier.
adjective
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using or able to use shorthand.
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written in shorthand.
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of or relating to shorthand.
noun
Etymology
Origin of shorthand
Explanation
Shorthand is a way of writing quickly, using a lot of abbreviations. Reporters often use shorthand during interviews to keep up with how fast people talk. It can be hard to write as fast as people speak, and that's where shorthand comes in. Shorthand is a method of rapidly transcribing exactly what someone says using special symbols, the way a court stenographer or a newspaper reporter does. It's less common to use shorthand these days, with the availability of recording devices, but in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was standard in offices.
Vocabulary lists containing shorthand
When You Reach Me
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My Life with the Chimpanzees
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The Boy Who Dared
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The shorthand used to describe Milton Keynes often refers to concrete cows and its many roundabouts.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Compute, the industry shorthand for computing power, is the lifeblood of the AI boom, and it’s in short supply.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
But plague has, for a very long time, been shorthand for various kinds of bad news.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Plastic soul,” then, becomes a conceptual shorthand for The Beatles’ chameleonic ability to absorb a genre’s core qualities and refashion it into something distinctly their own.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
The shorthand notebook was not returned, but the idea of a bulletin board was an instant success.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
