shorthand

/ˌʃɔrtˈhænd/

/ˈʃɔthænd/

Other forms: shorthands

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.

Definitions of shorthand

1. noun

   a method of writing rapidly
   synonyms: stenography, tachygraphy

   type of:

   hand, handwriting, script

   something written by hand
2. adjective

   written in abbreviated or symbolic form
   “shorthand notes”

   synonyms:

   written

   set down in writing in any of various ways