Q1. What’s The Difference Between Acronyms vs. Abbreviations? Q2. What is an abbreviation? Q3. What is an acronym? A1. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word used in place of the full word (e.g., Corp.). An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of each of the words in a phrase or name (e.g., NASA or laser). Abbreviations and acronyms are treated similarly in NREL publications. What is an abbreviation? An abbreviation is any shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase. Did you catch the word any in there? That means abbreviation is the blanket term for all these shortened words we’ve all been using on social media. Rly is a great example … we just took out the vowels—who needs ‘em—and now it’s an abbreviation. What is an acronym? For one, acronyms are types of abbreviations. Specifically, an acronym is a specific type of abbreviation formed from the first letters of a multi-word term, name, or phrase, with those letters pronounced together as one term. OPEC—or