ADR
Abbreviation with 5 meanings
| Stands for | Adverse drug reaction |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 5 |
| Categories | Medical, Business & Finance, Law & Legal, Arts & Entertainment, Technology & Computing |
ADR has five meanings. The most common are Adverse drug reaction (pharmacology) and American depositary receipt (stock market & investing); it can also stand for Alternative dispute resolution, Automated dialogue replacement and Architecture decision record.
Meanings of ADR at a glance
| # | ADR stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adverse drug reaction | Medical › Pharmacology |
| 2 | American depositary receipt | Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing |
| 3 | Alternative dispute resolution | Law & Legal › Litigation |
| 4 | Automated dialogue replacement | Arts & Entertainment › Film, Television and Theater |
| 5 | Architecture decision record | Technology & Computing › Programming |
1. Adverse drug reaction
Medical · Pharmacology Abbreviations
Harmful, unintended response to a medicine at doses normally used for prevention, diagnosis or treatment, following the World Health Organization's classic definition. Examples include ACE-inhibitor cough, statin myopathy and drug rashes.
Example: Documented ADR: angioedema with lisinopril; avoid ACE inhibitors.
ADRs are traditionally divided into Type A (augmented, predictable from the drug's pharmacology and dose-related) and Type B (bizarre, unpredictable, such as anaphylaxis). Health professionals in the US can report ADRs to the FDA's MedWatch program and in the UK through the Yellow Card scheme.
2. American depositary receipt
Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations
Certificate issued by a US bank representing shares of a foreign company, allowing American investors to buy that company's stock on a US exchange or over the counter in dollars. Each ADR can represent one share, several shares or a fraction of a share.
Example: Alibaba's ADRs trade on the NYSE, while its ordinary shares trade in Hong Kong.
J.P. Morgan created the first ADR in 1927 for the British retailer Selfridges. Sponsored ADR programs come in three levels, and only Levels 2 and 3 are listed on exchanges. The individual securities are technically American depositary shares (ADS), but the terms are used interchangeably.
3. Alternative dispute resolution
Law & Legal · Litigation Abbreviations
Methods of resolving legal disputes outside a courtroom trial, chiefly negotiation, mediation and arbitration, along with hybrids such as early neutral evaluation. Courts increasingly require parties to try some form of ADR before trial.
Example: The case management order requires the parties to complete ADR by June 30.
Mediation is nonbinding: a neutral helps the parties reach a voluntary settlement. Arbitration usually produces a binding award with very limited court review under the Federal Arbitration Act. The Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 1998 requires every federal district court to offer at least one ADR process. In finance, ADR means American depositary receipt.
4. Automated dialogue replacement
Arts & Entertainment · Film, Television and Theater Abbreviations
Process of re-recording an actor's lines in a studio after filming to replace unusable production audio or change a line. The actor watches the scene and matches lip movements.
Example: Two lines were muffled by wind, so we booked an ADR session for Friday.
Also called looping or post-sync, because scenes were once looped on film for repeated takes. ADR is common for action scenes, exterior locations and performance changes. Dubbing into another language uses similar techniques.
5. Architecture decision record
Technology & Computing · Programming Abbreviations
A short document recording one significant architecture decision, its context, the options considered and the consequences. Teams keep ADRs in the code repository so future developers understand why the system looks the way it does.
Example: Before switching message brokers, write an ADR explaining why Kafka beat RabbitMQ.
Popularized by Michael Nygard's 2011 blog post "Documenting Architecture Decisions". Records are numbered and not edited after acceptance; a later record supersedes an earlier one. In finance and law ADR means American depositary receipt or alternative dispute resolution.
Related abbreviations
More pharmacology abbreviations
- ADA – Anti-drug antibodies
- ADE – Adverse drug event
- ADME – Absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion
- AE – Adverse event
- ATC – Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification
- AUC – Area under the curve
- BAN – British Approved Name
- BBW – Black box warning
See all 36 pharmacology abbreviations →
More stock market & investing abbreviations
- 13D – Schedule 13D
- 13F – Form 13F
- 20-F – Form 20-F
- 8-K – Form 8-K (current report)
- ADV – Average daily volume
- AMEX – American Stock Exchange
- AON – All or none
- ASX – Australian Securities Exchange
See all 110 stock market & investing abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical or legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.