The Meaning of IT: What It Is and How To Use It

How can the acronym IT be used in various ways, and how can “it” be used as a word? This article will teach you about the term IT and the word it.

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What Does IT Stand For?

According to Tech Target, the acronym IT most often stands for information technology. This branch of engineering refers to the use of different technology to store, secure, process, create, and exchange data in electronic form. This branch of engineering has two sub-branches, which are telecommunications and computer technology.

What About the Word “It”?

According to The Free Dictionary, the word “it” has a plethora of potential meanings. 

First, the word it can be used as a pronoun, the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb. This subject of an impersonal verb is one of many personal pronouns and can either be used to refer to an inanimate thing or an anticipatory subject that has an unknown sex or lack of gender.

The word it can also be used as a delayed subject, dummy pronoun, object of a preposition, third-person singular personal pronoun, impersonal pronoun, placeholder, or formal grammatical subject of impersonal verbs. It can be used to refer to an inanimate object, child of unknown gender, nonhuman entity, group of objects, and more.

What Is the Origin of the Word It?

According to Dictionary, the word it was first used before the year 900 and was originally used as the Middle English hit or hitte. These came from the Old English hit, which is the neuter of the word he.

How Can “It” Be Used in a Sentence?

The word it is one of the most commonly used words in the English language. It is also a very versatile word, and it can therefore be somewhat confusing to know when to use it. 

In such sentences, the word it might be used as a direct object, indirect object, abstract idea, impersonal subject of the verb, a gerund, and more. These example sentences containing the word it will help you start using it in sentences:

Adam led the jury, and it was not an easy task to do so; he had to be alert, proficient in technology, and adept enough to understand the immediate context and general state of affairs of the case. 

Edna and Eve drove the car with the red upholstery and whitewall tires down the Florida coast; it was the best vacation ever.

It was cold today, and I stayed inside the jazz band room instead of going outside during break time.

It is said that a person’s value as an employee increases with their use of computers — knowing how to use Facebook and Twitter are crucial in fields like marketing, while other software might be useful in the branch of engineering.

It is common knowledge that a person’s risk of disease goes up when they have unprotected sexual intercourse, even if the person has high sex appeal.

It was a crucial situation in the breast cancer ward as the member of the carnival met her fate; human life was a fleeting thing. 

It was the best essay that the professor had ever read and he paid a deep compliment to the writer.

It wasn’t until the next game that the creature of habit noticed the latest fads that all of his peers were wearing. He had the same requisite abilities, but he looked shabby in comparison to those who were wearing the latest trends.

What Are Other Meanings of IT? 

According to The Free Dictionary, IT can stand for much more than just information technology. This word has numerous meanings in the fields of science, slang, government, business, and technology. How many of these different meanings of IT have you heard of before?

Meanings of IT in Science

Scientists won’t need a microscope to spot these meanings of IT in their day-to-day lives:

  • Insuficiencia Tricuspidea (Spanish: Tricuspid Insufficiency)
  • Intermediate Technology
  • Intratumoral
  • Inferotemporal Cortex (brain area)
  • Influence Technology
  • International Technology Division
  • Iran Time (GMT+0300)
  • Information Theory
  • Interline Transfer (CCD image devices)
  • Instrument Team
  • Integrated Teaming (Capability Maturity Model Integration)
  • Integral Transform
  • Integrated Timeline
  • Italic (linguistics)

Meanings of IT in Business and Government

Calling all businesspeople! These meanings of IT may help you in your next merger or political election:

  • Integration Test
  • Income Tax Ruling Series (IRS)
  • Ilmatorjunta (Finnish: Anti-aircraft defense)
  • Information Systems Technician (US Navy Rating)
  • Iowa Telecom
  • Increasing Term Rider (life insurance)
  • India Today (newspaper)
  • Income Tax
  • Imperial Tobacco
  • Inspiration Technology (Compaq)
  • Industrial Trainee
  • Incredible Technologies, Inc. (gaming manufacturer; Arlington Heights, IL)
  • Investment Trust
  • Instant Teller (CIBC Banking, Canada)
  • Interruptible Transportation (low priority transportation service)

Meanings of IT in Technology

If you work in technology — or, dare we say, in IT — you’ve probably seen these common acronyms:

  • Impulse Tracker (digital music)
  • Inter-Toll
  • Internet Tonight (TechTV)
  • Insulating Transformer
  • Inactivity Test
  • Integrated Terminal
  • Internet Times
  • Intermediate Trunk
  • Instructional Technology (educational technology)
  • Integrated Testing
  • Intelligent Terrain
  • Internodal Transport (Sprint)
  • Inheritance Tree (MIB)
  • Indirectly Tunable
  • Instituto de Telecomunicações (Portuguese: Telecommunications Institute)
  • Inside Terminal (telephony)

Meanings of IT as Slang Terms

Are you familiar with any of these slang meanings of IT?

  • Injury Time (soccer)
  • In Topic
  • Indecisive Time (Kids Next Door TV show)
  • Icy Tower (game)
  • Imagine That
  • Iconoclastic Titans (Quake 3 CTF Clan)
  • Illuminatus Trilogy (book series by R. A. Wilson & R. Shea)
  • Immortal Technique (rapper)
  • Indie Talk (filmmaking web community)

Conclusion

Overall, the word it is one of the most versatile and common words in the English language and can be used in a variety of different forms and cases. The acronym IT most often stands for information technology but has many other potential meanings.

Sources:

  1. What is Information Technology? Definition and Examples | Tech Target 
  2. IT – What does IT stand for? | The Free Dictionary 
  3. It – definition of it | The Free Dictionary 
  4. It Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com