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

Do you know the definition of POS? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the abbreviation POS, including its definition, usage, and more!

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What does the abbreviation POS stand for?

According to Collins English Dictionary, the abbreviation POS stands for point of sale. A POS system refers to something like cash registers or mobile POS systems like tablets where a customer can complete a translation using payment types like debit cards, credit cards, cash, and more. These often have card readers and can give cash back, like an ATM. This can also be called a merchant system or point of sale system. These terminals usually have hardware that can print receipts and software that processes the transactions. This is a part of a collection of acronyms that are used for convenience and employee management in the workplace to refer to a sales transaction system. A POS machine is used by many retailers and in the hospitality industry to process credit card payments, use a barcode scanner, allow a customer to enter a PIN for a debit card, and allow for good customer relationship management.  Teens and teenagers might have an easier time learning high tech POS terminals or POS systems to process a POS transaction. At a restaurant, someone might be able to enter a recipe on a POS system or in a department store, a color of foundation for inventory management and know how much of something has been sold. 

According to The Free Dictionary, the acronym POS can stand for much more than just point of sale. This acronym has a plethora of other different meanings. These other definitions are still valid, but they are less common than to be honest and should be used sparingly. If you do decide to use one of these alternate definitions, make sure that you provide the reader or listener with the proper context so that they can infer the correct meaning. 

  •  Proof of Shipment
  •  Product of Sums
  •  Persistent Object Server
  •  Port Of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad And Tobago – Piarco International Airport (Airport Code)
  •  Parent(s) Over Shoulder (chat)
  •  Preliminary Official Statement
  •  Programmable Object Select
  •  Purchased Operator Service
  •  Position Played (baseball)
  •  Portable Oxygen Subsystem
  •  Piece of Shit (NSFW)
  •  Plan of Study
  •  Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
  •  Positively Outrageous Service
  •  Public Offering Statement (bond financing)
  •  Period Of Service
  •  Primary Operating System
  •  Personal Operating Space (IEEE 802.15 TG1)
  •  Proof of Service (legal form)
  •  PPP Over SONET
  •  Political Opportunity Structure
  •  Person on Street (stories)
  •  Project Overview Statement
  •  Person of Suspicion
  •  Point of Service (health care providers type of plan)
  •  Palliative Care Outcome Scale (clinical outcome measurement)
  •  Packet over Sdh
  •  Probability of Survival
  •  Psychological Operations Specialist
  •  Prime Orbital System (gaming)
  •  Process Operating Station
  •  Plan d’Occupation des Sols (French: Estate Layout Policy)
  •  Path-Over-SONET (synchronous optical network)
  •  Portable Operating System (computing)
  •  Packet Over SONET
  •  Persistent Object Store
  •  Pictures on Site
  •  Public Opinion Strategies
  •  Point of Sale
  •  Partially Ordered Set (abstract algebra)
  •  Persistent Object Systems
  •  Political Science
  •  Polytechnische Oberschule (Germany)
  •  Peninsula Orchid Society (San Mateo, CA)
  •  Priority of Support
  •  Power of Suggestion
  •  Pain of Salvation (band)
  •  Partial Order Schedule
  •  Policyowner Service (insurance industry)
  •  Post Oil Solutions (Brattleboro, Vermont)
  •  Peacetime Operating Stock(s)
  •  Poselok (Russian, small town; used in postal addresses)
  •  Piece of Stuff (polite form)
  •  Power on Servicing
  •  Personal Operating System
  •  Plane of Symmetry
  •  Pacific Orchid Society (Hawaii)
  •  Pivoting Optical Servo
  •  Probability Of Success
  •  Pacific Oceanographic Synopsis
  •  Professional Office Services (various locations)
  •  Position (sports statistics)
  •  Power on Stopgrant
  •  Positive
  •  Place of Service
  •  Polyorganosiloxane
  •  Partial-Onset Seizure
  •  HIV Positive
  •  Public Open Space (UK)
  •  Palm Operating System
  •  Pomona (Amtrak station code; Pomona, CA)
  •  Plasma Opening Switch
  •  Listening Position
  •  Paperless Office System
  •  Priory of Sion
  •  Ports Of Support
  •  Plane of Sky (gaming)
  •  Porcelain-On-Steel (cookware)
  •  Perspectives on Slavistics (linguistic conference)
  •  Pre-Operational Support (US DoD)
  •  Programmable Option Set
  •  Program of Study
  •  Pit of Saron (World of Warcraft game)
  •  Phoenix Online Studios
  •  Position
  •  Positive Organizational Scholarship
  •  Persistent Object Service
  •  Physician Order Sheet (healthcare)
  •  Procedings of Science
  •  Plain Old Stereo
  •  Power Operating System
  •  Power on Sequence
  •  Peacetime Operational State
  •  Pair with Overall Shield (cabling)
  •  Polar Orbiting Satellite
  •  Prince of Space (movie)
  •  Port Of Seattle
  •  Power on Suspend
  •  Point-Of-Service
  •  Programmable Object/Option Select
  •  Process Override Switch
  •  Proof of Solution (various organizations)
  •  Purchase Order Specification (quality assurance)
  •  PERQ Operating System
  •  Position of Strength
  •  Plan Obligatorio de Salud (Spanish; Colombia)
  •  Planet Of Sound (UK nightclub)
  •  Philosophy of Science
  •  Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society
  •  Plant Operating Specification
  •  Plane of Storms (gaming)
  •  Place of Skulls (band)
  •  Power on Standby (computing)
  •  Priority One Services (various locations)
  •  Player Owned Station (Eve-Online MMORPG)
  •  Project Office Support (various locations)
  •  Parts Only Service (Dell, Inc.)
  •  Proof of Stock
  •  Part of Speech
  •  Portable Operating System

What are synonyms and antonyms for POS?

There are many different words and phrases that one can use in place of the acronym POS. Knowing synonyms that are the full form of words is useful to expand your vocabulary for use in situations where a slang phrase is not appropriate. This list of synonyms for POS is provided by Power Thesaurus.

  •  retail store
  •  sales point
  •  retail outlet
  •  at the point of sale
  •  date of the sale
  •  points of sale
  •  when sold
  •  selling point
  •  sales counter
  •  border-crossing stations
  •  at the point of purchase
  •  point of sales
  •  place of purchase
  •  outlet store
  •  point of purchase
  •  they are sold
  •  at point of sale
  •  time of sale
  •  retail outlets
  •  sales points
  •  counter
  •  selling points
  •  sales area
  •  tax-free shops
  •  market outlets
  •  retail space
  •  at sales points
  •  sales outlets
  •  moment of sale
  •  at points of sale
  •  border crossing stations
  •  till
  •  place of sale
  •  sales office
  •  time of the sale
  •  retail location
  •  checkout
  •  sales outlet
  •  sales offices
  •  frontier stations
  •  moment of the sale
  •  register

Overall, the POS acronym means point of sale. This refers to a register or tablet that is used to process payments.

Sources:

  1. Point Of Sale synonyms – 43 Words and Phrases for Point Of Sale | Power Thesaurus 
  2. POS – What does POS stand for? The Free Dictionary | Power Thesaurus POS definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary.