tl;dr

See also: TLDR and TL;DR

English

WOTD – 20 February 2025

Alternative forms

Etymology

The phrase is an initialism of t(oo) l(ong); d(idn’t) (or sometimes d(on’t)) r(ead).[1][2] The noun and verb are derived from the phrase.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /tiː ˌɛl diː ˈɑː/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ti ˌɛl di ˈɑɹ/
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

Phrase

tl;dr

  1. (chiefly Internet slang) Initialism of too long; didn't read (or sometimes too long; don't read).
    1. Used to indicate that one did not read a (long) text.
      • 2002 December 21, Lenny Perkins, “My Thoughts on Metroid Prime (Long)”, in rec.games.video.nintendo‎[1] (Usenet):
        tl;dr
        This is the earliest occurrence noted by the Oxford English Dictionary.
    2. Used to introduce a short summary of an overly long text.
      Synonyms: BLUF, summary
      • 2016, Jeffrey Flagg, “The Care and Feeding of Your Atheist Pagan”, in John Halstead, editor, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-theistic Pagans, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, part 10 (Looking Forward: Non-theistic Pagan Community), page 351:
        How I got to be an atheist is a fairly long and winding story, so I'll give you the "tl;dr" version—I was finally honest about myself that "the gods" just "weren't there."
      • 2018 May 30, Hadley Freeman, “The meaning of beige tights: they show what the Windsors will do to Meghan”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 October 2021:
        Incidentally, my absolutely favourite headline about the Duchess of Sussex's new coat of arms was: "Will Meghan Markle's new California-inspired coat of arms convince millennials to embrace traditional heraldry?" Tl;dr, no!

Translations

See also

Noun

tl;dr (plural tl;drs or tl;dr's)

  1. (chiefly Internet slang) A summary; the gist, the long and short.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:summary
    I know that was quite a long ramble, but the TL;DR is that I got fired.

Translations

See also

Verb

tl;dr (third-person singular simple present tl;dr's, present participle tl;dr'ing, simple past and past participle tl;dr'ed or tl;dr'd) (chiefly Internet slang)

  1. (transitive) To provide a short summary of (a text, an event, etc.); to summarize.
    • 2014 June 17, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, “Here’s How to Teach the Liberal Arts to High Schoolers”, in Forbes‎[3], New York, N.Y.: Forbes, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 June 2024:
      Extracts or overviews should be substituted as needed. But insofar as possible, the whole books should be read. First of all, because many thinkers simply cannot be tl;dr'd. Second of all, because wrestling with, and immersing yourself in, and just reading through whole books is part of the education.
    • 2021 June 30, Makena Kelly, quoting Hasan Piker, “Hasan Piker on the Problem with YouTube Debate Culture: ‘Personally, I Think All of This is Just Bullshit’”, in The Verge‎[4], archived from the original on 25 February 2024:
      I'll tell you another thing that's ironic about the Vidal–Buckley [i.e., Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.] debates. Those debates can be TLDR'd into one of them calling the other "queer" as a pejorative and then the other calls the other a "fascist."
    • 2021 August 20, Amy Kaufman, “‘Ted Lasso’ wrote a love letter to romantic comedies. We break down ‘rom-communism’ [Catch up]”, in Los Angeles Times‎[5], Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 June 2024:
      Fortunately, Sutton Stracke soon emerged from her bedroom to tell her friends that she had, in fact, read the entire story. Kyle [Richards] instantly begged her friend to TL;DR the "in-depth exposé," which she deemed "so friggin' long."
  2. (intransitive) To provide a short summary of a text, an event, etc.; to summarize.
    • 2018 June 16, Peter Kafka, “MoviePass Invested in ‘Gotti,’ the New John Travolta Mob Movie Everyone Hates”, in Vox‎[6], archived from the original on 2 December 2023:
      Some highlights of the lowlights: "A dismal mess," says the New York Times. Its "shabby aesthetic and narrative shortcomings are outweighed by its more drastically questionable moral ones," says the Guardian. "It's not a good movie," Entertainment Weekly TL;DRs.
    • 2022 December 20, Louis Ashworth, “Turning Japanese?: One last rug pull before retirement”, in Financial Times‎[7], London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 9 February 2023:
      Royal Bank of Canada’s economics team have tl;dr'd why JGBs and the yen have had a fun morning: "it will be hard for markets not to see this move as a precursor for tightening policy".

Synonyms

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ “tl;dr, int. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
  2. ^ “tl;dr, abbrev. and n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.

Further reading

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English tl;dr.

Phrase

tl;dr

  1. (Internet slang) Introduces a summary.

Quotations

Other forms:

    • 2011 September 15, "Rune Broberg" (username), "Sponsorer til LASER projektet", in Open Space Aarhus
      TLDR: Bestyrelsen bestemmer hvad der er OSAA-projekter, og de bør finde (og offentliggøre) nogle retningslinier, f.eks. ved at holde et møde om det.
      TLDR: The board decides what [projects] are OSAA projects, and they should find (and publish) some guidelines, e.g. by having a meeting about it.
    • 2016 April 4, "Flemming Frandsen" (username), ""TL$3BDR"$20"med"/openspaceaarhus/WK-tfeSTOMs/BFRU6_2oCAAJ 3D resin printer", in Open Space Aarhus
      TL;DR: Lad være med at drikke det:)
      TL;DR: Don't drink it. :)
    • 2013 June 5, "jacob.lykke" (username), "https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/"TL$3BDR"$20"med"/ve-dag-for-ungenergi/XqTJGsE36OU/fLT4dYzvqhMJ plakater.]", in VE-dag for UngEnergi
      tl:dr - se vedhæftede og kom med feedback.
      tl:dr - see the attached [file] and give feedback.
    • 2012 January 20, "Casper Klenz-Kitenge" (username), "https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/"TL$3BDR"$20"med"/copenhagen-ruby-user-group/DZ-3m9YaAI0/81vSgItDi9gJ Job: Rails udvikler @ autobutler.dk, Kbh K]", in Copenhagen Ruby Brigade
      TL;DR:

      * Du bliver tredje udvikler, og får stor indflydelse på din hverdag
      TL;DR:

      * You will be third developer, and will have a large influence on your workday.
    • 2009 October 1, "larsgj" (username), ""TL$3BDR"$20"med"/dk.fritid.foto/kIzpzyCpjis/tjaU2LkseNkJ Billigste (næsten) vandtætte kamera - alternativer til Pentax?", in dk.fritid.foto
      TL:DR
      Hvad er det billigste vandtætte kamera ...
      TL:DR
      What is the cheapest waterproof camera ...
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.