PDF

American

abbreviation

Digital Technology.

portable document format:
1. a file format that makes it possible to display text and graphics in the same fixed layout on any computer screen.
2. a document or file in this format.

PDF British

abbreviation

portable document format: a format in which documents may be viewed

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of PDF

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This category represents Adobe’s Document Cloud business, which includes PDF and e-signature tools.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

Another blow came in 1993, when Adobe co-founder John Warnock led the team that invented the PDF, an all-purpose digital format that could handle almost any document.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 15, 2025

“Cooper sent me a 300-page PDF of the whole thing and it was the best script I’d ever read,” says Reinhart.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 17, 2025

Dudek had spent hours with Bobba, trying to get him to focus on concrete problems like how beneficiaries’ records were stored, often as cumbersome PDF and image files.

From Salon • Sep. 9, 2025

You may print these exercises as a PDF worksheet5 if you like.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023