N/A
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Not applicable |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Writing & Everyday |
N/A has two meanings. It stands for Not applicable (email and office) or Not available (email and office).
Meanings of N/A at a glance
| # | N/A stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Not applicable | Writing & Everyday › Email and Office |
| 2 | Not available | Writing & Everyday › Email and Office |
1. Not applicable
Writing & Everyday · Email and Office Abbreviations
Entered in a form field, table cell or questionnaire to show that the question does not apply to the person or item. It tells the reader the blank was considered, not overlooked.
Example: If you have never been married, write N/A in the spouse's name field.
Written with a slash; variants include n/a and NA. Because N/A can also mean "not available," data dictionaries and survey codebooks sometimes assign separate codes to the two. Excel's #N/A error is different again: it means a lookup found no value. Pronounced as the letters "en-ay."
2. Not available
Writing & Everyday · Email and Office Abbreviations
Indicates that data, a product, a feature or a service cannot be supplied, such as a missing figure in a statistical table or an option that is not offered on a model. It appears in reports, spec sheets, price lists and online catalogs.
Example: Rear-seat entertainment: N/A on the base model, standard on the Touring trim.
Statistical tables often explain in a footnote whether N/A means "not available" or "not applicable," since the two say different things about missing data. Spreadsheet programs return #N/A when a value cannot be found. Some style guides recommend writing the phrase out in prose and reserving N/A for tables and forms.