The word “miscellaneous” is frequently used in business writing and other places where organization lingo is used. When brevity is needed, it is sometimes necessary to abbreviate “miscellaneous” to save space. In this article we will teach you how to abbreviate the word “miscellaneous,” but let’s first start with a definition.
Definition of Miscellaneous
The word miscellaneous is one that can often cause confusion, while people often relate it to the idea of “unimportant” this is completely removed from the truth. And the proper definition of the word goes as such: a mixture of various elements that aren’t usually related to each other; members or elements of mixed character; something with various differing aspects.
As such miscellaneous is closer to the idea of “varied” than anything else. And for something to be miscellaneous, it must refer to a group of people or items that at first glance don’t have a single identifying and grouping trait.
The word is usually employed to refer to a group of items that did not fit prior categorization attempts, so more often than not it ends up grouping the items that were left out so to say, but this is a side effect and not the defining feature of the word.
How Do You Abbreviate Miscellaneous
The proper miscellaneous abbreviation is:
- Misc.
Regardless of whether it refers to the singular form or the plural form, and can be used for the word Miscellany as well, which refers to the physical place which holds a miscellaneous collection.
Synonyms for Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous has a lot of synonyms due to how it refers to both a group and the qualities of a group, and as such it’s important to keep the context in mind when choosing the right word to use. Ahead are some of the most common synonyms used to replace Miscellaneous in day to day use: Sundry, Assorted, Conglomerate, Different, Group, Disparate and Heterogeneous.
In short the synonyms for Miscellaneous when we refer to the unit or the gathering are closely tied to the word “group”, while the synonyms we need for the idea of miscellaneous as items that don’t quite match are related to “different”. If you keep that logic in mind you should always be able to find the proper word to use.
When to Abbreviate Miscellaneous
Abbreviations per the general rule are only meant to be used when saving space is a major concern, which means that they’ll likely only see use in publications with limited character count like newspapers, presentation cards or headers. The other main reason to use them is when a word is likely to be repeated often in a single and often extensive document, making the abbreviation a time-saving measure.
In the case of Misc, you are far more likely to see it in the second context, particularly when it comes to economics. There are many miscellaneous expenses or fees that will be cataloged as such in official documents, permits or receipts, and the word will almost exclusively be found abbreviated in those cases to save on space.
Short of those examples, there isn’t a real need to abbreviate the word, and while it’s commonly shortened if it’s done without the need it can be considered a grammatical error.
Some examples of when to use Misc:
- All employees are granted 100 dollars for misc. expenses.
- The museum has a misc. collection
