List of acronyms: A

This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends  that begin with the letter A.

For the purposes of this list:

• acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as if it were a word, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome, pronounced to rhyme with cars
• initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc, pronounced cee dee
• pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters mean that it cannot stand as a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).

(a) = acronym, e.g.: SARS – (a) severe acute respiratory syndrome

(i) = initialism, e.g.: CD – (i) compact disc

(p) = pseudo-blend, e.g.: UNIFEM – (p) United Nations Development Fund for Women

(s) = symbol (none of the above, representing and pronounced as something else; for example: MHz – Megahertz)

(Main list of acronyms)

Contents

• Top
• A0–9 AA AB AC AD AE AF AG AH AI AJ AK AL AM AN AO AP AQ AR AS AT AU AV AW AX AY AZ

• a – (s) Atto-
• A – (s) Ampere

A0–9

• A1C – Airman First Class
• A2ATD or A²ATD – (i) Anti-Armour Advanced Technology Demonstration
• A2C2 or A²C² – (i) Army Airspace Command and Control
• A4 – many, including a European standard office paper size; see entry
• A10 – (i) Atlantic 10 Conference

AA

• aa – (s) Afar language (ISO 639-1 code)
• aA – (s) Attoampere
• AA
  • (i) achieved availability
  • Alcoholics Anonymous
  • (s) Armed Forces Americas (postal symbol)
  • Aruba (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
  • (i) assembly area
  • Automobile Association
  • avenue of approach
• AAA
  • (i) administration, authorization, and authentication
  • American Automobile Association ("Triple-A")
  • anti-aircraft artillery
  • Amateur Athletic Association (of England)
  • Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (Spanish, "Assistance, Consulting, and Administration"— original name of Mexican professional wrestling promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide)
• AAAI – (i) Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, formerly American Association for Artificial Intelligence
• AAAS – (i) American Association for the Advancement of Science
• AAAV – (i) Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle
• AABN - (i) African Aurora Business Network
• AABP - (i) American Association of Bovine Practitioners
• AAC
  • (i) American Athletic Conference
  • Army Air Corps (British Army)
• AACL (i) Albanian American Civic League
• AACCS (i) American Association of Christian Colleges and Seminaries
• AAD
  • (i) analogue-analogue-digital (CD quality)
  • Australian Antarctic Division
• AADD – Adult attention deficit disorder
• AADT – (i) annual average daily traffic
• AADAC – (a) Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission
• AADC
  • (i) area air defense commander
  • (i) amino acid decarboxylase
  • (i) aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase
  • (i) Australian Antarctic Data Centre
• AAFC
  • (i) U.S. Army Air Corps Ferrying Command (1941–1942)
  • All-America Football Conference (1946–1949)
• AAFES – (i) Army and Air Force Exchange Service
• AAI – (i) applied artificial intelligence
• AAIS – (i) advanced airborne interceptor simulator
• AAM – (i) air-to-air missile
• AAMOF – (i) as a matter of fact
• AAN – (i) American Academy of Nursing
• AANEAS – (a) Anglo-Australian Near-Earth Asteroid Survey
• AAODL – (i) Atmospheric Aerosols and Optics Data Library
• a.a.p. – (i) Associated Artists Productions (former film distributor)
• AAP
  • (i) advanced acquisition plan
  • Allied administrative publication
  • American Academy of Pediatrics
• AAPC – (i) Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee
• aar – (s) Afar language (ISO 639-2 code)
• AAR
  • (i) after-action review
  • Association of American Railroads
• AARP – (i/s) American Association of Retired Persons (now officially known only by the initials)
• AAS
  • (i) Advanced Automation System
  • American Astronomical Society ("double-A-S")
• AASPEM – (i) advanced air-to-air system performance evaluation model
• AAT – (i) Australian Antarctic Territory
• AAV – (i) Amphibious Assault Vehicle
• AAWC – (i) anti-air warfare commander

AB

• ab – (s) Abkhaz language (ISO 639-1 code)
• AB
  • (i) Able Seaman (both the rank and the occupation)
  • (s) Alberta (postal symbol)
• ABA
  • (i) Adriatic Basketball Association
  • American Bar Association
  • American Basketball Association
  • American Beverage Association
  • American Bicycle Association
  • American Birding Association
  • Australian Broadcasting Authority
• ABB – (i) ASEA Brown Boveri (Swiss-Swedish multinational company)
• ABBA – (a) Agnetha, Benny, Björn, Anni-Frid (Swedish pop group)
• ABC
  • (i) abstinence, be faithful, condoms
  • Active Body Control
  • airway, breathing, circulation (see CPR)
  • Alcoholic Beverage Commission
  • alien big cat
  • always be careful
  • American Bird Conservancy
  • American-born Chinese
  • American Broadcasting Company
  • anti-lock brake controller
  • Associated British Corporation
  • Atanasoff–Berry Computer
  • Atlantic Baptist College
  • atomic, biological, chemical (see NBC)
  • Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  • already been chewed gum
• ABCA
  • (i) American, British and Canadian Armies (originally)
  • Army Bureau of Current Affairs
• ABCS – (i) (U.S.) Army Battle Command System
• ABET – (a) Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
• ABFIST – (i) Advanced Bradley Full Crew Interactive Skills Trainer
• ABGI – (i) Addington-Barker Group International
• ABIN – (a) Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (Brazilian Intelligence Agency)
• abk – (s) Abkhaz language (ISO 639-2 code)
• ABL – (i) American Basketball League
• ABLE – (a) AirBorne Law Enforcement (police air support unit)
• ABM – (i) anti-ballistic missile – Asynchronous Balanced Mode – automated banking machine
• ABMC – (i) American Battle Monuments Commission
• ABN – (i) Australian Business Number (a number issued by the Australian government as registration of a business and used for taxation purposes)
• ABPI – (i) Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
• ABRSM – (a) Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
• ABS
  • (i) acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
  • anti-lock braking system
• ABSA – (a) Amalgamated Banks of South Africa ("ab-sa")
• ABSTRIPS – (p) abstraction-based STRIPS
• ABV – (i) Alcohol by volume
• ABW – (s) Aruba (ISO 3166 trigram)

AC

• aC – (s) Attocoulomb
• Ac – (s) Actinium
• AC
  • (i) Adriamycin-Cyclophosphamide (chemotherapy)
  • Air Conditioning
  • Aircraftman
  • Alternating Current
  • Altocumulus
  • ante Christum (Latin, "before Christ"; see BC)
  • ante cibum (Latin, "before meals")
  • (s) Antigua and Barbuda (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • (i) Associazione Calcio (Italian, "football (soccer) club")
• A/C – (i) Air Conditioned/Conditioning – Aircraft
• AC1 – Aircraftman 1st Class
• AC2 – Aircraftman 2nd Class
• ACA
  • Affordable Care Act, shorthand for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called "Obamacare"
  • (i) Airspace Control Authority
  • Airspace Co-ordination Area
  • A Current Affair
• ACARS – (a) Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System
• ACAS
  • (a) Aboriginal Children's Advancement Society
  • Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
• ACB – (i) Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto (Spanish for "Association of Basketball Clubs")
• ACC
  • (i) U.S. Air Combat Command
  • Air Component Commander
  • Alpine Club of Canada
  • Altocumulus castellanus
  • Area Control Center
  • Atlantic Coast Conference
  • Automatic climate control
• ACCA
  • (i) The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
  • Automatic Cloud Cover Assessment
• ACCAC – (a) Awdurdod Cymwysterau, Cwricwlwm ac Asesu Cymru (Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales)
• ACCD – American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities
• ACCS – (i) Air Communications and Control Squadron
• ACDA – (i) Arms Control & Disarmament Agency
• ACDC
  • (i) Alternating Current Direct Current
  • the name of an Australian rock music band
  • a term for a bisexual person
• A/Cdre – Air Commodore
• ACDT
  • (a) Apple Certified Desktop Technician
  • (a) Australian Central Daylight Time
• ACE
  • (a) Air Combat Emulator (computer game)
  • Allied Command Europe
  • Angiotensin-converting enzyme
  • Armored Combat Earthmover
  • Automatic Computing Engine
• ACES
  • (a) Aerolíneas Centrales de Colombia (Spanish, "Central Colombian Airlines")
  • Auxiliary Campus Enterprises and Services of Alfred State College
• ACF
  • (i) Administration for Children and Families
  • American Car and Foundry
  • American Culinary Federation
• ACHT – (i) Average Call Hold Time
• ACID – (a) Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability (in databases)
• ACINT – (p) Acoustic Intelligence
• ACK – (p) Acknowledge (telecommunications; cf. NAK)
• ACL
  • (i) Access Control List
  • Anterior cruciate ligament; the initialism can also refer to an injury to this ligament
  • Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
• ACLJ – (i) American Center for Law and Justice
• ACLOS – (i) Automatic CLOS (missile control system)
• ACLS – (i) American Council of Learned Societies
• ACLU
  • (i) American Civil Liberties Union
  • American Communist Lawyers Union (pejorative slang for the above)
• ACM – many, including Association for Computing Machinery; see entry
• ACMC – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps
• ACN
  • (i) Airborne Communications Node
  • Australian Company Number (number issued by the Australian government as registration of a limited liability company)
• ACNA – (i) Anglican Church in North America
• ACO – (i) Airspace Control Order
• ACOBA – (a) Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
• ACOG – (a) American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• ACOM – (p) (U.S.) Atlantic Command
• ACORN – (a) Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
• ACP
  • (i) African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
  • Air Control Point
• ACR – (i) Advanced Concepts and Requirements
• ACRI – (p) African Crisis Initiative
• ACRT – (i) Advanced Concepts Research Tool simulator
• ACS
  • (i) Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE ACS)
  • Alaska Communications Service
  • American Cancer Society
  • American Chemical Society
  • Association of Caribbean States
  • Australian Computer Society
• ACSC – (i) Army Command and Staff College (various nations)
• ACST – (i) Australian Central Standard Time
• ACST – (i) American Cooperative School of Tunis
• ACT
  • (i) Adaptive Control of Thought (cognitive model)
  • American College Test (ing Program)
  • Australian Capital Territory (also postal symbol)
• ACT UP – (a) AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
• ACTD – (i) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration
• ACTF
  • (i) (U.S.) Army Constructive Training Federation
  • Australian Children's Television Foundation
• ACT-R – (i) ACT-Rational (cognitive model)
• ACT-R/PM – (i) ACT-R/Perceptual-Motor (cognitive model)
• ACTU – (i) Australian Council of Trade Unions
• ACU – (a) American Conservative Union
• ACUF
  • (i) BGN Advisory Committee on Undersea Features
  • (a) American Conservative Union Foundation
• ACV – (i) Armoured Combat Vehicle

AD

• AD – (i) Air Defence – (s) Andorra (ISO 3166 digram) – (i) Anno Domini (Latin, "In the year of our Lord")
• A/D – (i) Analog/Digital
• ADA – (i) Air Defence Artillery – American Dental Association – Assistant District Attorney – Americans with Disabilities Act (see also the similar but non-acronymic Ada programming language)
• ADAC – (a/i) Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (German, "General German Automobile Club")
• ADAGE – (a) Air Defense Air to Ground Engagement (simulation)
• ADAP – (i) AIDS Drug Assistance Program
• ADAS – (a/i) Asiago-DLR Asteroid Survey
• ADAT – (i) Alesis Digital Audio Tape (recording format)
• ADatP – (p) Automated Data Processing
• ADATS – (i) Agricultural Development and Training Society – Air Defence Anti-Tank System – Australian Defence Air Traffic System
• ADB – (i) Asian Development Bank
• ADC – (i) Aide De Camp – U.S. Air Defense Command (1946–1992) – Apple Display Connector – Program Against Digital Counterfeiting of Currency
• ADCTS – (i) Advanced Distributed Combat Training System
• ADD – (i) Analog Digital Digital (CD quality) – Attention-Deficit Disorder – Administration on Developmental Disabilities
• ADDIE – (i) Analyze Design Develop Implement and Evaluate
• ADDNS – (i) Advanced Deployable Day/Night Simulation
• ADF – (i) Australian Defence Force – African Development Foundation
• ADGB – Air Defence of Great Britain
• ADHD – (i) Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• ADHS – (i) Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Syndrome
• ADI – (i) Acceptable/Allowable Daily Intake
• ADIZ – (a/i) Air Defence Identification Zone
• ADL – (i) Anti-Defamation League
• ad loc. – (p) ad locum (Latin, "to/at the place")
• ADM – (i) Administrative – (s) – Admiral, and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps – Archer Daniels Midland – Assistant Deputy Minister
• ADOA – (a/i) Air Defence Operations Area
• ADP – (i) Adenosine DiPhosphate – Army Doctrine Publication (UK, Canada, Australia) – Automatic/Automated Data Processing
• ADRG – (p) Arc-second Raster Chart (ARC) Digitized Raster Graphics
• ADS – (a/i) Active Denial System – Astrophysics Data System – Attention Deficit Syndrome
• ADSR – (i) Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release (sound envelope specification)
• ADT – (i) Atlantic Daylight Time (UTC−3 hours)
• ADTB – (i) Army Doctrine and Training Bulletin
• adv. – (p) adversus (Latin, "against")
• ADW – (i) Air Defence Warning

AE

• ae – (s) Avestan language (ISO 639-1 code)
• AE
  • (s) Armed Forces Africa/Canada/Europe/Middle East (postal symbol)
  • United Arab Emirates (ISO 3166 digram; FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • (i) Artix Entertainment
  • American Eagle
• A&E – (a/i) Arts & Entertainment Network, the original name for the U.S. TV channel now known as A&E Network
• AED – (s) United Arab Emirates dirham (ISO 4217 currency code)
• AEDT – (a) Australian Eastern Daylight Time
• AEF – (i) American Expeditionary Force
• AEGIS – (p) Airborne Early warning Ground environment Interface Segment (fake etymology)
• AEI-T – (i) Army Enterprise Infostructure-Transport
• aeq. – (p) aequalis (Latin, "equal")
• AESR – (i) Aeronautical Equipment Service Record
• AEST – (a) Australian Eastern Standard Time
• aet. – (p) aetatis (Latin, "of age", "aged")
• aet – (i) After extra time (Football)
• AEW
  • (i) Air Expeditionary Wing
  • (i) Airborne early warning
  • (i) Airborne electronic warfare
  • (i) All Elite Wrestling (US professional wrestling promotion)

AF

• af – (s) Afrikaans language (ISO 639-1 code)
• aF – (s) Attofarad
• AF
  • (s) Afghanistan (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) Air Force
  • As fuck
• AFA
  • (i) U.S. Air Force Academy
  • Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (Spanish, "Argentine Football Association")
• AFAIC – (i) As Far As I'm Concerned
• AFAICT – (i) As Far As I Can Tell
• AFAIK – (i) As Far As I Know
• AFAIR – (i) As Far As I Remember/Recall
• AFAM
  • (i/a) Associazione Friulana di Astronomia e Meteorologia (Italian, "Friuli Association of Astronomy and Meteorology")
  • (p) Department of African and Afro-American Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — notable for its links to the school's academic-athletic scandal in the 2010s
• AFATDS – (i) Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System
• AFC
  • (i) American Football Conference
  • Approved for construction
  • Asian Football Confederation
• AFCEA – (i) Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association
• AfD
  • (i) Allianz für Deutschland ("Alliance for Germany"), former political alliance in East Germany
  • Alternative für Deutschland ("Alternative for Germany"), current German political party
• AFD
  • (i) Active Format Description, a technical standard for TV or set-top box decoders
  • Advanced Format Drive, a type of computing storage device
  • Adjustable-frequency drive
  • Adult Film Database, web-based database of adult cinema
  • Agence française de développement ("French Development Agency"), a French international development agency
  • Alliance des forces démocratiques (French; "Alliance of Democratic Forces"), an Ivorian political alliance
  • Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, an Eritrean political party
• AFDB – (i) African Development Bank
• AFES – (i) Automatic Fire Extinguishing System
• AFG – (s) Afghanistan (ISO 3166 trigram)
• AFGAM - (i) Amazon Facebook Google Apple Microsoft
• AFI
  • (s) French Territory of the Afars and Issas (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete since 1977)
  • (i) "Agencia Federal de Investigaciónes" (México)
• AFIS
  • (a) Automated Fingerprint Identification System
  • American Forces Information Service
• AFIST – (i) Abrams Full Crew Interactive Skills Trainer
• AFJ – (i) April Fool's Joke
• AFK – (i) Away From Keyboard (Internet chat abbreviation)
• AFL
  • (i) American Federation of Labor
  • American Football League — either the 1960s league that merged into the National Football League, or one of several other leagues of American football
  • Arena Football League
  • Australian Football League
• AFL-CIO – (i) American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations
• AFLAC – (a) American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus
• AFM – (i) Army Field Manual (UK; the U.S. more frequently uses just FM) – Atomic Force Microscope – Aviation Fleet Maintenance
• AFN – (s) Afghani (ISO 4217 currency code)
• AFO – (i) Association of Field Ornithologists
• AFOSR – (i) U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research
• AFP
  • (i) Agence France-Presse (French, "French Press Agency")
  • Australian Federal Police
• AFQT – (i) Armed Forces Qualification Test
• afr – (s) Afrikaans language (ISO 639-2 code)
• AFRC – (i) Air Force Reserve Command
• AFRL – (i) Air Force Research Laboratory
• AFROTC– (i) Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps
• AFRRI – (i, U.S.) Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute
• AFRTS – (i) Armed Forces Radio and Television Service
• AFS
  • (i) Active Front Steering
  • Air Facility Sub-System
  • Amniotic Fluid-derived Stem cell
• AFS&A or AFSA – (i) U.S. Air Force Studies and Analysis
• AFSC
  • (i) U.S. Air Force Staff College (obsolete; replaced by JFSC)
  • U.S. Air Force Systems Command
• AFSCN – (i) U.S. Air Force Satellite Control Network
• AFSPC – (i) Air Force Space Command
• AFT – American Farmland Trust
• AFV – (i) armoured fighting vehicle
• AFWA
  • (a) Air Force Weather Agency
  • Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

AG

• ag – (s) Attogram
• Ag – (s) Silver (Latin argentum)
• AG
  • (i) air gunner
  • Aktiengesellschaft (German, "incorporated")
  • (s) Algeria (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • Antigua and Barbuda (ISO 3166 digram)
  • Assemblies of God
• AGA
  • (a/i) AB Gas-accumulator ("ah-gah", Swedish company)
  • Advanced Graphics Architecture
• AGARD – (a) Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development
• AGARDograph – (p) Advanced Guidance for Alliance Research and Development publication
• AGASA – (a) Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (cosmic ray detector)
• AGB – (i) Internal Nintendo initialism (Advanced Game Boy) for Game Boy Advance
• AGC
  • (i) Apollo Guidance Computer
  • Automatic Gain Control
• AGC – (i) Adjutant General's Corps (British Army)
• AGDC – (i) Australian Game Developers' Conference
• AGI – (i) Auxiliary Group Intelligence
• AGL – (i) Above Ground Level
• AGM – (i) Annual General Meeting
• AGN – (i) Active Galactic Nucleus
• AGO – (s) Angola (ISO 3166 trigram)
• AGP – (i) Accelerated Graphics Port
• AGRICOLA - (a) Agriculture Online Access
• AGS – (i) Alaska Ground Station (LandSat)
• AGTS – (i) Advanced Gunnery Training System
• AGU – (i) American Geophysical Union
• AGW – (i) Autonomous Guided Weapon

AH

• aH – (s) Attohenry
• Ah – (s) Ampere-hour
• AH – (i) Attack Helicopter
• AHA – (i) American Heart Association
• AHCPR – (i) Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (obsolete; replaced with AHRQ)
• AHEC – (i) Australian Health Ethics Committee
• AHPCRC – (i) Army High Performance Computing Research Center
• AHQ – Air Headquarters
• AHRQ – (i) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• AHS – (i) American Housing Survey

AI

• AI
  • (i) Air Interdiction
  • Amnesty International
  • Artificial Insemination
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • (s) Anguilla (ISO 3166 digram)
• AIA
  • (i) Aerospace Industries Association
  • American Institute of Architects
  • (s) Anguilla (ISO 3166 trigram)
• AIAA – (i) American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• AIC
  • (i) African Independent Church
  • Animal Identification Coordinator
• AICD – (i) Australian Institute of Company Directors
• AICMFP – (i) And I Claim My Five Pounds
• AID – (i) U.S. Agency for International Development
• AIDS – (a) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
• AIHW – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
• AIM – many, including AOL Instant Messenger, Australian Institute of Management; see entry
• AIMP – (i) Aurora Incremental Modernization Project
• AIPAC – (i) American Israel Public Affairs Committee
• AIR – (i) Aircraft Inventory Record
• AIRFA – (a) American Indian Religious Freedom Act
• AIRS – (a/i) Aerometric Information Retrieval System (obsolete; replaced with AFS)
• AIS
  • (i) Australian Institute of Sport
  • Automatic Identification System
• AISB – (i) (British Society for the Study of) Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour

AJ

• aJ – (s) Attojoule
• AJ – (s) Azerbaijan (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• Ajax – (a) Asynchronous JavaScript And XML
• AJD – (i) Astronomical Julian day
• AJP – (i) Allied Joint Publication
• AJPW – (i) All Japan Pro Wrestling

AK

• ak – (s) Akan languages (ISO 639-1 code)
• aK – (s) Attokelvin
• AK – (s) Alaska (postal symbol)
• aka – (s) Akan languages (ISO 639-2 code)
• a.k.a. – (i) Also known as (i.e.: alias)
• AKA – (i) Above knee amputation (orthopaedic usage)
• AKDT – (p) Alaska Standard Daylight Saving Time (UTC−8 hours)
• AKST – (p) Alaska Standard Time (UTC−9 hours)
• AKP – (i) Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Turkish, "Justice and Development Party")

AL

• aL – (s) Attolitre
• Al – (s) Aluminium
• AL
  • (s) Alabama (postal symbol)
  • Albania (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) Anno Lucis (Latin, "Year of Light", in Masonic tradition, most often seen on plaques bearing the founding dates of buildings, in years AD and years AL)
• ALA – (s) Åland Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ALAP – (a) As Long/Late As Possible
• ALARM – (a) Air-Launched Anti-Radar Missile
• ALB – (s) Albania (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ALCOA or Alcoa - The Aluminum Company of America, NYSE:AA
• ALD – (i) Accounting Line Designator (nuclear weapon targeting)
• ALERT – (a) Advanced Linked Extended Reconnaissance and Targeting – Attack and Launch Early Reporting to Theatre
• ALF
  • (a) Africa Leadership Forum
  • Alien Life Form (cf. ALF (TV series))
  • Animal Liberation Front
• ALG – (s) Algeria (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
• ALGOL – (p) ALGOrithmic Language
• ALL – (s) Albanian lek (ISO 4217 currency code)
• ALOA – (i) Associated Locksmiths of America, Inc.
• ALOC
  • (a) Air Lines Of Communication
  • (a) Average Length of Calls
• ALPA – (a) Air Line Pilots Association
• ALS – (i) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – Automatic Landing System
• ALSHS – (a) Abraham Low Self-Help Systems
• ALSP – (i) Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol
• ALTE – (a) Association of Language Testers in Europe
• ALTACS – (p) Automated decision Logic Tactical Air Combat Simulation

AM

• am
  • (s) Amharic language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • Attometre
• Am – (s) Americium
• AM
  • many, including Amplitude Modulation and Ante Meridiem; see entry
  • (s) Armenia (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
• AM1 – Airman 1st class
• AMA
  • (i) American Medical Association
  • Australian Medical Association
• AMAPS – (a) Aircraft, Missile, Avionics Performance Simulation
• AMC
  • (i) Adaptive modulation and coding (digital communications)
  • U.S. Air Mobility Command
  • American Motors Corporation
  • American Movie Classics (TV network; now known simply by the initials)
  • U.S. Army Materiel Command
• AMCB – (i) U.S. Army/Marine Corps Board
• AMD
  • (i) Advanced Micro Devices
  • Age-related Macular Degeneration
  • (s) Armenian dram (ISO 4217 currency code)
• AMF – (i) Afghan Military Force(s)
• AMFOM – (i) Advanced Missile Fly Out Model ("am-fomm")
• AMFR
  • (i) Age-specific Marital Fertility Rate
  • Amplitude Modulation Following Response
• AMFRS
  • (i) Advanced Multi-Function Radio Frequency System
  • Automatic Multisensor Feature-based Recognition System
• amh – (s) Amharic language (ISO 639-2 code)
• AML – (i) Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
• AMLCD – (i) Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display
• AMLO
  • (i) Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Mexican politician)
  • Anti-Money Laundering Office — separate government agencies in Taiwan and Thailand
• AMO – (i) Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation
• AMOLED – (i) Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode
• AMOS
  • (a) Advanced MOrtar System
  • Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing observatory
• AMP
  • (i) Adenosine MonoPhosphate
  • Automated Mission Planner
• AMRAAM – (a) Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile
• AMRDEC – (i) U.S. Aviation & Missile Research, Development, & Engineering Center
• AMS
  • (i) Agriculture Marketing Service
  • American Mathematical Society
• AMSAA – (i/a) U.S. Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity
• AMSO – (i/a) U.S. Army Model and Simulation Office
• AMSU - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
• AMTE – (i) UK Admiralty Marine Technology Establishment (1977–1984)

AN

• an – (s) Aragonese language (ISO 639-1 code)
• aN – (s) Attonewton
• AN
  • (s) Andorra (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • Netherlands Antilles (ISO 3166 digram)
• ANA
  • (i) Administration for Native Americans
  • Afghan National Army
  • All Nippon Airways
  • Anti-Nuclear Anti-body
  • (a) Australian National Airways
  • Australian Natives' Association
• ANC – (i) African National Congress
• AND – (s) Andorra (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ANFO – (i) Ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (explosive)
• ANG
  • (i) Air National Guard
  • (s) Angola (IOC and FIFA trigram, but not ISO 3166)
  • (s) Netherlands Antillian guilder (ISO 4217 currency code)
• ANGLiCo – (p) Air/Naval Gunfire Liaison Company
• ANL – (i) Argonne National Laboratory
• ANM – (i) Acoustic Noise Monitor
• ANOVA – (p) ANalysis Of VAriance
• ANS – (i) Applied and Natural Sciences
• ANSI – (a) American National Standards Institute
• ANTM – (i) America's Next Top Model
• ANT
  • (s) Netherlands Antilles (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • Antigua and Barbuda (IOC trigram, but not ISO 3166 or FIFA)
• ANTY - Acronyms, No Thank You
• ANWR – (i) Arctic National Wildlife Refuge /ˈænwɑːr/
• ANZ – (s) Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
• ANZAC – (a) Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

AO

• AO
  • (s) Angola (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) Approach Officer (submarine)
  • Area of Operations
• AOA
  • (i) Air Officer in charge of Administration
  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • (s) Angolan kwanza (ISO 4217 currency code)
  • (i) Award Of Arms (heraldry)
• AOC
  • (i) Air Operations Centre
  • Air Officer Commanding
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (American politician)
• AOC in C – Air Officer Commanding in Chief
• AOD – (i) Adrenalin O.D. (punk rock band)
• AOI
  • (i) Angle Of Incidence
  • Arab Organization for Industrialization
• AOL – (i) America OnLine
• AOR – (i) Area of Responsibility
• AOSTH – (i) Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
• AOTS – (i) Attack of the Show!
• AOU – (i) American Ornithologists' Union

AP

• AP
  • (i) Advanced Placement
  • Air Publication
  • (s) Andhra Pradesh (Indian state code)
  • (s) Armed Forces Pacific (postal symbol)
  • (i) Associated Press
  • Auto Pilot
• APA –
  • (i) Acolytes Protection Agency (professional wrestling tag team)
  • American Psychiatric Association
  • American Psychological Association (see also APA style, a writing format developed by this body)
• APB – (i) All Points Bulletin (police jargon)
• APC
  • (i) Armoured Personnel Carrier
  • Armour Piercing Capped (ammunition)
• APEC – (a) Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
• APCNR – (i) Armour-Piercing, Composite Non-Rigid (ammunition)
• APCR – (i) Armour-Piercing, Composite Rigid (ammunition)
• APDS – (i) Armour-Piercing, Discarding-Sabot (ammunition)
• APEDS – (a) AMSAA Performance Estimates Data System
• APEX – (p) Applied Physics Express
• APFSDS – (i) Armour-Piercing, Fin-Stabilised, Discarding Sabot (ammunition)
• APHA – (i) American Public Health Association
• APHE – (i) Armour-Piercing, High Explosive (ammunition)
• APHIS – (a) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
• API – (i) Application Programming Interface
• APL
  • (i) A Programming Language
  • Acute Promyeloid Leukaemia
  • Anti-Personnel Landmine
  • Applied Physics Laboratory (Johns Hopkins University)
• APM – (i) Advanced Power Management
• APNP - Advanced Practice Nurse Prescriber
• APOD – (i) Aerial Port (Airport) Of Debarkation
• APOE – (i) Aerial Port (Airport) Of Embarkation
• APOLLO – (a) Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation
• APP – (i) Allied Procedural Publication
• APR – (i) Annual Percentage Rate
• APS
  • (i) Advanced Photo System (cf. APS-C, an image sensor format based on the size of the original APS film frame)
  • American Physical Society
  • Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome

AQ

• AQ
  • (i) AdventureQuest
  • (s) American Samoa (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
  • Antarctica (ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) Automatic qualifier, a term used by U.S. sports media from 1998 to 2013 to refer to the six conferences whose champions automatically entered the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series of college football
• AQIM – (i) Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

AR

• ar – (s) Arabic language (ISO 639-1 code)
• Ar – (s) Argon
• AR
  • (s) Argentina (FIPS 10-4 country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • Arkansas (postal symbol)
  • Armour
  • (s) Arunachal Pradesh (Indian state code)
• ara – (s) Arabic language (ISO 639-2 code)
• ARAG – (a) Advanced Research and Assessment Group
• ARB – (i) Administrative Review Board
• ARBA – (a/i) Army Review Boards Agency
• ARC
  • (i) Appalachian Regional Commission
  • Arc-second Raster Chart
  • (a) Association of Retarded Citizens, the original name of the organization now known as Arc of the United States
  • (i) Athletics–Recreation Center, an indoor arena at Valparaiso University
• ARCA – (a) Automobile Racing Club of America
• ARCENT – (p) United States Army Central Command
• ARDA – (a) Advanced Research and Development Activity (became DTO 2006)
• ARE
  • (i) UK Admiralty Research Establishment (–1991)
  • (s) United Arab Emirates (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ARF – (i) ASEAN Regional Forum
• arg – (s) Aragonese language (ISO 639-2 code)
• ARG – (s) Argentina (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ARH – (s) Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter
• ARI
  • (i) Acute Respiratory Infection
  • U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
• ARL
  • (i) UK Admiralty Research Laboratory (1921–1977)
  • U.S. Army Research Laboratory
  • UIUC Aviation Research Laboratory
• ARM
  • (a) Acorn RISC Machine, later Advanced RISC Machine (cf. Arm Holdings)
  • Anti-Radiation Missile
  • Adjustable-rate mortgage
  • (s) Armenia (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ARNet – (p) Acquisition Reform Network
• AROTS - Australian Rare Or Threatened Species
• ARP – (i) Address Resolution Protocol – Applied Research Programme
• ARPA – (a) Advanced Research Projects Agency
• ARRC – (i) ACE Rapid Reaction Corps
• ARRF – (i) Allied Rapid Reaction Force
• ARRL - (i) American Radio Relay League
• ARS
  • (i) Agricultural Research Service
  • (s) Argentine peso (ISO 4217 currency code)
• ARSC – (i) Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
• ARSPACE – (p) U.S. Army Space Command
• ART
  • (a) Adaptive Resonance Theory
  • Anti-Retroviral Therapy
• ARTCC – (i) Air Route Traffic Control Center
• ARWG – (i) Army Research Working Group ("are-wig")

AS

• as
  • (i) Adult swim
  • (s) Assamese language (ISO 639-1 code)
  • Attosecond
• aS – (s) Attosiemens
• As – (s) Arsenic
• AS
  • (s) American Samoa (postal symbol; ISO 3166 digram)
  • Australia (FIPS 10-4 country code)
  • Assam / Asom (Indian state code)
• AS – (i) ActionScript
• A/S – (i) Anti-submarine
• A&S – (i) Armament & Standardisation
• ASA
  • (i) AcetylSalicylic Acid
  • American Standards Association
  • Army Security Agency
  • Atlantic Southeast Airlines
• ASAP – (a) As Soon As Possible
• ASARS
  • (a) Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System
  • Airborne Search and Rescue System
• ASB – (i) Associated Student Body – Alternative Service Book (Church of England)
• asbl – (i) association sans but lucratif (French "Non-profit organisation")
• ASBO – (a) Antisocial Behavior Order
• ASCAP – (a) American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
• ASCC
  • (i) Army Service Component Commander
  • Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator
  • Air Standardization Coordinating Committee
• ASCIET – (i) All Services Combat Identification Evaluation Team
• ASCII – (a) American Standard Code for Information Interchange
• ASC+T – (i) Anti Slip Control + Traction
• ASD
  • (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense
  • Autism spectrum disorder
• ASD(C3I) – (i) (U.S.) (Command, Control, Communications, & Intelligence)
• ASD(FMP) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force Management Policy)
• ASD(HA) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)
• ASD(ISA) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs)
• ASD(ISP) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Policy)
• ASD(LA) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Legislative Affairs)
• ASD(PA) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
• ASD(RA) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs)
• ASD(SO&HA) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Special Operations & Humanitarian Assistance)
• ASD(SO/LIC) – (i) (U.S.) (Special Operations & Low-Intensity Conflict)
• ASD(S&R) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Strategy & Requirements)
• ASD(S&TR) – (i) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Strategy & Threat Reduction)
• ASDIC – (a) Allied Submarine Detection Investigation Committee (Sonar)
• ASEAN – (a) Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• ASFAR – (a) Americans for a Society Free of Age Restrictions
• ASG – (i) Area Support Group
• ASIC – (a) Australian Securities and Investments Commission – (a) Aviation Security Identification Card
• ASICS – (a) Anima sana in corpore sano (Latin, "A sound mind in a sound body") (athletic shoe manufacturer)
• ASIO
  • (a) Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
  • Audio stream input output
• ASIP
  • (i) Advanced System Improvement Program
  • Army Stationing and Installation Plan
  • Application-specific instruction-set processor
• ASL
  • (i) Above Sea Level
  • American Sign Language (also known as Ameslan)
  • "Age, Sex, Location?" (Internet slang)
• asm – (s) Assamese language (ISO 639-2 code)
• ASM
  • (i) Air-to-Surface Missile
  • (s) American Samoa (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • (i) American Society for Metals
  • American Society for Microbiology
  • Association Sportive Montferrandaise (French, "Clermont-Ferrand Sporting Association"), as in ASM Clermont Auvergne
• ASMB
  • (i) American Society for Matrix Biology
  • Adult Swim Message Board
• ASME
  • (i) American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • American Society of Magazine Editors
• ASMP
  • (i) Air-Sol Moyenne Portée missile (French "Medium-range air to surface")
  • (p) Asymmetric multiprocessing
• ASMR - Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response
• ASN – (i) Associate of Science in Nursing
• ASOC
  • (a/i) Air Sovereignty Operations Centre
  • Air Support Operations Centre
  • Airport Security and Operations Centre
  • Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition
  • Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus
  • Australian Standard Offence Classification
• ASP
  • (i) Active Server Pages
  • American Society of Primatologists
  • Ammunition Supply Point
  • Application Service Provider (cf internet service provider)
  • Astronomical Society of the Pacific
  • Association of Surfing Professionals
• ASPI – (i) Australian Strategic Policy Institute
• ASR
  • (i) Alkali-silica reaction
  • Anti Slip Regulation
• ASRAAM – (a) Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile
• ASSC – (i) Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
• Ass Paym – Assistant Paymaster
• AST – (i) Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−4 hours)
• ASTIA – (a) Armed Services Technical Information Agency
• ASTM – (i) American Society for Testing and Materials
• ASTREA – (a) Aerial Support To Regional Enforcement Agencies (sheriff's air support unit)
• ASUN – (p) Atlantic Sun (Conference)
• ASUW – (p) AntiSUrface Warfare
• ASVAB - Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (taken by juniors in high school in the USA)
• ASVEL – (a) Association Sportive Villeurbanne Éveil Lyonnais (Association Sportive is French for "Sporting Association"; the club was founded through the merger of AS Villeurbanne and Éveil Lyonnais)
• ASW – (i) AntiSubmarine Warfare
• ASWORG – (i) (U.S.) AntiSubmarine Warfare Operations Research Group
• ASX
  • (p) Advanced Stream Redirector
  • Australian Securities Exchange

AT

• aT – (s) Attotesla
• At – (s) Astatine
• AT – (i) Anti-Tank – (s) Ashmore and Cartier Islands (FIPS 10-4 territory code) – Austria (ISO 3166 digram) – (i) Advanced Technology (IBM Personal Computer/AT)
• ATA – (i) Advanced Technology Attachment (IBM Personal Computer) – Afghan Transitional Authority – Allen Telescope Array – (s) Antarctica (ISO 3166 trigram)
• ATAC – (a) Air Transportable Acoustic Communications
• ATACMS – (p) Army TACtical Missile System
• ATAPI – (a) Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface
• ATAS – (a) Air-To-Air Stinger (missile)
• ATAT – (a) Aiken Tactical Airsoft Team / Star Wars vehicle
• ATB – (i) Active Time Battle – (s) British Antarctic Territory (ISO 3166 trigram; merged with AQ in 1979)
• ATC – (i) Air Traffic Control – Air Training Corps – U.S. Air Transport Command (1942–1948)- Athletic Trainer, Certified (www.nata.org)
• ATCCIS – (i) Army Tactical Command and Control Information System
• ATESS – (i) Aerospace and Telecommunications Engineering Support Squadron
• ATF – (s) French Southern Territories (ISO 3166 trigram) – (i) (U.S.) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (from its previous name, which did not include "Explosives")
• ATG – (s) Antigua and Barbuda (ISO 3166 and FIFA trigram)
• ATGM – (i) Anti-Tank Guided Missile
• ATGW – (i) Anti-Tank Guided Weapon
• ATI – (i) Allied Telesyn International, Inc. – (a) Array Technologies Incorporated. (ATI Technologies)
• Atisbo – a Local Government Area in Nigeria named for constituent communities (Ago-Are, Tede, Irawo, Sabe, Baasi, Ofiki and Owo)
• ATK – (p) Attack
• ATL – (p) Atlanta, Georgia, the largest city and capital of Georgia
• ATLAS – (a) All-Terrain Lifter Army System – (p) Assessment Tool for LAnd Systems
• ATM – (i) Automated Teller Machine – Asynchronous Transfer Mode – At The Moment
• ATN – (s) Dronning Maud Land (ISO 3166 trigram; merged with AQ in 1983)
• ATO – (i) Air Tasking Order – Australian Taxation Office
• ATP – (i) Adenosine TriPhosphate – Allied Tactical Publication – Ammunition Transfer Point
• ATSD – (p) (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of Defense
• ATSDR – (i) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• AT&T – (i) American Telephone and Telegraph (U.S. company, also known as "Ma Bell")
• ATV – (i) All-Terrain Vehicle
• ATWA – (a) Air, Trees, Water, Animals

AU

• Au – (s) Gold (Latin Aurum)
• AU – (i) African Union (was OAU before 2000) – American University – (s) Astronomical Unit – Australia (ISO 3166 digram) – Austria (FIPS 10-4 country code)
• AUC – (i) Ab Urbe Condita / Anno Urbis Conditae (Latin "from the founding of the city" / "in the year since the founding of the city") (of Rome) – Area Under the Curve (concentration time curve; medicine)
• AUD – (s) Australian dollar (ISO 4217 currency code)
• AUS – (s) Australia (ISO 3166 trigram)
• AUSCANNZUKUS – (p) Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States (security designation)
• Auslan – (p) Australian Sign Language
• AUT – (s) Austria (ISO 3166 trigram)
• AUTL – (i) Army Universal Task List

AV

• av – (s) Avar language (ISO 639-1 code)
• aV – (s) Attovolt
• Av – (i) Aperture value (photographic mode)
• AV
  • (s) Anguilla (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
  • (i) Audio-Visual
  • (s) Aviation
• ava – (s) Avar language (ISO 639-2 code)
• AVA – (i) American Viticultural Area
• AVB – (i) Audio Video Bridging
• AVCATT-A – (p) (U.S. Army's) Aviation Combed Arms Tactical Trainer-Aviation [Reconfigurable Manned Simulator]
• AVDLR – (p) Aviation Depot Level Repair
• ave – (s) Avestan language (ISO 639-2 code)
• AVGP – (i) Armoured Vehicle, General Purpose
• AVI – (i) Audio Video Interleave
• AVIM – (p) Aviation Intermediate Maintenance
• AVLB – (i) Armoured Vehicle Launched Body
• AVM
  • (i) Air Vice-Marshal
  • (p) Arteriovenous malformation
• AVO – (i) Apprehended Violence Order
• AVP – (a) Arubaanse Volkspartij
• AVP – (i) Association of Volleyball Professionals
• AVRE – (i) Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers
• AVTB
  • (i) Armoured Vehicle Test Bed
  • (p) Aviation Test Bed
• AVUM – (p) Aviation Unit Maintenance
• AVVO – (a) Acute Vaginal Venereal Outbreak

AW

• aW – (s) Attowatt
• AW – (s) Aruba (ISO 3166 digram)
• AWA – (i) American Wrestling Association
• AWACS – (a) Airborne Warning And Control System
• AWC – (i) Air Warfare Centre
• AWD – many, including All Wheel Drive; see entry
• AWE – (i/a) Advanced Warfighting Experiment
• AWG – (s) Aruban guilder (ISO 4217 currency code)
• AWOL – (a) Absent Without Official Leave / Absent WithOut Leave (military jargon)
• AWP – (p) Awaiting Parts (SM&R code)
• AWSIM – (p) Air Warfare SIMulation
• AWST – (a) Australian Western Standard Time
• AWW – (i) Above-Water Warfare

AX

• AX – (s) Åland Islands (ISO 3166 digram)
• AXP – (p) Ambulance eXchange Point

AY

• ay – (s) Aymara language (ISO 639-1 code)
• AY – (s) Antarctica (FIPS 10-4 territory code)
• AYBABTU – (i) All Your Base Are Belong To Us
• aym – (s) Aymara language (ISO 639-2 code)
• AYU – (i) As Yet Unknown

AZ

• az – (s) Azerbaijani language (ISO 639-1 code)
• AZ
  • (s) Arizona (postal symbol)
  • Azerbaijan (ISO 3166 digram)
  • (i) Alkmaar Zaanstreek (Dutch football club)
• aze – (s) Azerbaijani language (ISO 639-2 code)
• AZE – (s) Azerbaijan (ISO 3166 trigram)
• AZN – (s) Azerbaijani manat (ISO 4217 currency code)
• AZUR – (p) Actions en zone urbaine (French, Urban Operations)