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).
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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.
We often shorthand alliances as friendships, but they’re usually built less on comity and more on mutual necessity.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
The term technically encompasses a broad category of products that includes FDA-approved drugs—ranging from insulin to Ozempic—but it has become shorthand for substances people are injecting that haven’t undergone approval from the FDA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The proposal -- echoing the restaurant shorthand "86" for an item that is off the menu -- pits zealous reformers against vested interests, with an electorate knowing little about the issue.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
“They have been doing it for so long that they have a shorthand, if you don’t get your words out fast enough, they’ve sped past onto a million other ideas,”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
But I didn't know shorthand, so what could I do?
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
Definitions 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.
