What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Signal vs Abbreviation - What's the difference?

signal | abbreviation |

As nouns the difference between signal and abbreviation

is that signal is signal while abbreviation is the result of shortening or reducing; abridgment .

signal

English

(wikipedia signal)

Alternative forms

* signall

Noun

(en noun)
  • A sign made to give notice of some occurrence, command, or danger, or to indicate the start of a concerted action.
  • * Milton
    • All obeyed / The wonted signal and superior voice / Of this great potentate.
  • An on-off light, semaphore, or other device used to give an indication to another person.
  • (of a radio, TV, telephone, internet, etc) An electrical or electromagnetic action, normally a voltage that is a function of time that conveys the information of the radio or TV program or of communication with another party.
    • My mobile phone can't get a signal in the railway station.
  • A token; an indication; a foreshadowing; a sign.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The weary sun / Gives signal of a goodly day to-morrow.
  • * De Foe
    • There was not the least signal of the calamity to be seen.
  • Useful information, as opposed to noise.
  • (computing, Unix) A simple interprocess communication used to notify a process or thread of an occurrence.

    • Antonyms

    * (useful information) noise

    Derived terms

    * signal box * signalman * signalwoman * smoke signal

    See also

    * tocsin

    Verb

  • To indicate.

    • Adjective

    (-)
  • Standing above others in rank, importance, or achievement.
    • a signal''' exploit; a '''signal''' service; a '''signal act of benevolence
  • * Milton
    • As signal now in low, dejected state / As erst in highest, behold him where he lies.

    Related terms

    * (adjective)

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    abbreviation

    English

    (wikipedia abbreviation)

    Alternative forms

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment.
  • (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, +, =, @.
  • The process of abbreviating.
  • (music) A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
  • (music) One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
  • Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
    • the phrase "civil rights" is an abbreviation for a whole complex of relationships. - Pres. Truman's comittee on Civil Rights
  • (biology) Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
  • (mathematics) Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.

    • See also

    *

    References

    * * *