Acronym Finder is an online database

Database

A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...

 of abbreviation

Abbreviation

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...

s (acronyms, initialisms, and otherwise) and their meanings. It includes over 900,000 human-edited and verified definition

Definition

A definition is a passage that explains the meaning of a term , or a type of thing. The term to be defined is the definiendum. A term may have many different senses or meanings...

s, many of them related to computers, technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

, telecommunications, science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

, medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 and the military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

. While the database is not open content

Open content

Open content or OpenContent is a neologism coined by David Wiley in 1998 which describes a creative work that others can copy or modify. The term evokes open source, which is a related concept in software....

, users can help to expand the database by submitting new definitions, which are subject to editorial

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 control. The name of anyone contributing more than 50 definitions is listed on the website. Thanks to these contributors, the site's database grows at the rate of over 6,000 new definitions each month.

Acronym Finder also includes a Systematic Buzz Phrase Projector, a light-hearted tool that randomly generates jargon-like phrases and abbreviations — usually initialisms that would be unpronounceable as acronyms — and meanings from 30 cleverly chosen buzz words.

The database was founded in 1997 by Mike Molloy, who continues to develop it. Today, it is published by Mountain Data Systems LLC.

External links

• Acronym Finder
• Article www.acronymfinder.com at Chicago Tribune
  Chicago Tribune
  The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
  
  
• Review at killerstartups.com
• Info at faqs.org
• Info at Finday
  Finday
  Finday is a social web directory and search engine based on Google's technology. It provides users a website ranking system that isn't based on statistics but on human criteria , and a directory of websites commented and evaluated on by users.The website also includes a large amount of important...
  
  
• Article at ncs-tech.org
• Citation at oami.europa.eu
• Citation in The Times of India
  The Times of India
  The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
  
  article Tongue-tied? Sites to help you loosen up
• Article at Apple.com
• Listing at lib.ucdavis.edu
  University of California, Davis
  The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
  
  
• Listing at resources.library.georgetown.edu
  Georgetown University
  Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
  
  
• Listing at www.uscupstate.edu/library/
  University of South Carolina Upstate
  The University of South Carolina Upstate is a public university located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. Formerly known as the University of South Carolina Spartanburg, the school changed its name in the summer of 2004...
  
  
• Article at library.mcmaster.ca
  McMaster University
  McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...
  
  
• siteinfo at Alexa.com
  Alexa Internet
  Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...