PDF

American

abbreviation

Digital Technology.

portable document format:
1. a file format that makes it possible to display text and graphics in the same fixed layout on any computer screen.
2. a document or file in this format.

PDF British

abbreviation

portable document format: a format in which documents may be viewed

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of PDF

First recorded in 1990–95

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.

I've sent a PDF of my book to my friends and asked them to distribute it.

From Barron's • May 21, 2026

This category represents Adobe’s Document Cloud business, which includes PDF and e-signature tools.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

Another blow came in 1993, when Adobe co-founder John Warnock led the team that invented the PDF, an all-purpose digital format that could handle almost any document.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 15, 2025

“Cooper sent me a 300-page PDF of the whole thing and it was the best script I’d ever read,” says Reinhart.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 17, 2025

If you need staff paper, you can print out this PDF file.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023