PD
Abbreviation with 15 meanings
| Stands for | Police department |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 15 |
| Categories | Government & Politics, Medical, Technology & Computing, Law & Legal, Education & Academia, Science & Engineering, Transportation & Travel, Writing & Everyday, Sports |
| Also written | Pd, pd. |
PD has 15 meanings. The most common are Police department (police) and Panic disorder (mental health & psychiatry); it can also stand for Parkinson's disease, Peritoneal dialysis, Personality disorder, Pupillary distance and USB Power Delivery, plus 8 more listed below.
Meanings of PD at a glance
| # | PD stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Police department | Government & Politics › Police |
| 2 | Panic disorder | Medical › Mental Health & Psychiatry |
| 3 | Parkinson's disease | Medical › Neurology |
| 4 | Peritoneal dialysis | Medical › Nephrology & Urology |
| 5 | Personality disorder | Medical › Mental Health & Psychiatry |
| 6 | Pupillary distance | Medical › Ophthalmology & ENT |
| 7 | USB Power Delivery | Technology & Computing › Computer Hardware |
| 8 | Public defender | Law & Legal › Court |
| 9 | Professional development | Education & Academia › K-12 Education |
| 10 | Pharmacodynamics | Medical › Pharmacology |
| 11 | Progressive disease | Medical › Hematology and Oncology |
| 12 | Palladium | Science & Engineering › Chemical Element |
| 13 | Property damage liability | Transportation & Travel › Driving |
| 14 | Paid | Writing & Everyday › Everyday |
| 15 | Passes defensed | Sports › American Football |
1. Police department
Government & Politics · Police Abbreviations
Municipal police agency, as in "Boston PD," and the common shorthand for a city's police force. There are roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the US, most of them small local departments.
Example: Call the PD's non-emergency line to report the abandoned car.
Large departments are known by their initials, such as NYPD, LAPD and CPD. County sheriff's offices, state police and federal agencies are separate. In insurance, PD means property damage, and in medicine it can mean Parkinson's disease.
2. Panic disorder
Medical · Mental Health & Psychiatry Abbreviations
Recurrent unexpected panic attacks, sudden surges of intense fear with palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness or fear of dying, followed by at least a month of worry about further attacks or behavior changes to avoid them. CBT and SSRIs are effective treatments.
Example: PD with frequent ED visits for chest pain, cardiac workup negative; start sertraline and panic-focused CBT.
Since DSM-5, agoraphobia is diagnosed separately rather than as a subtype of panic disorder. Panic attacks themselves are common and can occur in many conditions without panic disorder. Medical causes such as hyperthyroidism, arrhythmias and stimulant use should be considered. In neurology PD means Parkinson's disease, and in nephrology peritoneal dialysis.
3. Parkinson's disease
Medical · Neurology Abbreviations
Progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra, producing slowness of movement (bradykinesia), rest tremor, rigidity and later balance problems. Non-motor symptoms such as loss of smell, constipation, depression and sleep disorders often appear years earlier.
Example: Unilateral rest tremor, cogwheel rigidity and bradykinesia; PD, trial of carbidopa-levodopa.
Named after English surgeon James Parkinson, whose 1817 "Essay on the Shaking Palsy" first described it. About 1 million people in the United States live with PD. Levodopa, introduced in the late 1960s, remains the most effective treatment, and deep brain stimulation helps selected patients with motor fluctuations. In nephrology PD means peritoneal dialysis, and in oncology progressive disease.
4. Peritoneal dialysis
Medical · Nephrology & Urology Abbreviations
Home dialysis method that uses the lining of the abdomen (peritoneum) as the filter: sterile dialysate is run into the abdomen through a catheter, left to absorb wastes and excess fluid, then drained. It is done either by manual daytime exchanges or by a machine overnight.
Example: ESKD on PD, nightly cycler; cloudy effluent and abdominal pain, cell count to rule out peritonitis.
PD offers flexibility and better preservation of residual kidney function than in-center hemodialysis, but peritonitis is its main complication. Elsewhere PD is best known as Parkinson's disease, and in optometry it means pupillary distance; in psychiatry it may mean panic or personality disorder, so context matters. Cloudy drained fluid should prompt same-day evaluation.
5. Personality disorder
Medical · Mental Health & Psychiatry Abbreviations
Enduring pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that deviates markedly from cultural expectations, is inflexible across situations, begins by early adulthood and causes distress or impairment. DSM-5 describes ten specific personality disorders grouped into clusters A (odd), B (dramatic) and C (anxious).
Example: Cluster B PD traits noted; recommend structured psychotherapy rather than medication.
ICD-11 replaced the categorical types with a single personality disorder diagnosis graded mild, moderate or severe, plus trait domains and an optional borderline pattern. DSM-5 Section III offers a similar alternative model. Around one in ten adults may meet criteria for at least one personality disorder. Specific types are abbreviated BPD, ASPD, NPD and so on.
6. Pupillary distance
Medical · Ophthalmology & ENT Abbreviations
Distance in millimeters between the centers of the pupils, needed to position the optical centers of eyeglass lenses correctly in front of the eyes. Adult values commonly fall around 54–74 mm.
Example: Rx: OD -2.25 -0.50 x 180, OS -2.00 sph; PD 63 mm.
Opticians may record a single binocular PD or a separate measurement for each eye, plus a smaller near PD for reading glasses. Online glasses retailers ask customers for it. In US law, eye doctors must give patients their prescription, though PD is not always included. In nephrology PD means peritoneal dialysis, and in neurology Parkinson's disease.
7. USB Power Delivery
Technology & Computing · Computer Hardware Abbreviations
Fast-charging standard that lets USB-C chargers and devices negotiate higher voltages and currents, delivering up to 100 W in PD 3.0 and up to 240 W with Extended Power Range in PD 3.1. Laptops, phones, tablets and power banks use it.
Example: A 65 W PD charger can power the laptop, the phone and the earbuds in turn.
Devices start at the safe USB default of 5 V and request higher levels, such as 9, 15, 20 or 48 V, over the cable's configuration channel. Currents above 3 A require an electronically marked ("e-marked") cable. The PPS extension, Programmable Power Supply, allows fine voltage steps and is required for Samsung's fastest charging. PD also means police department.
8. Public defender
Law & Legal · Court Abbreviations
Government-employed lawyer, or the office of such lawyers, assigned to represent criminal defendants who cannot afford private counsel. Public defender offices exist at the county, state and federal levels and handle the majority of felony cases in many jurisdictions.
Example: She qualified for a PD at arraignment, so the court appointed the public defender's office.
The constitutional right to appointed counsel in state felony cases comes from Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), later extended to any case that results in imprisonment. In police reports PD means police department, so context matters. Studies have repeatedly found that many PD offices carry caseloads well above recommended limits.
9. Professional development
Education & Academia · K-12 Education Abbreviations
Training and learning activities for teachers and staff, such as workshops, coaching, conferences and collaborative planning, often required to maintain a teaching license. Districts schedule PD days when students stay home.
Example: There's no school Friday because teachers have a PD day on the new math curriculum.
Many states require a set number of continuing education hours or credits for license renewal. Research suggests sustained, content-focused coaching works better than one-time workshops. In other contexts PD means police department.
10. Pharmacodynamics
Medical · Pharmacology Abbreviations
Study of what a drug does to the body: how it binds receptors or enzymes, the relationship between concentration and effect, and the duration and intensity of response. It explains why two drugs with similar blood levels can differ in potency.
Example: PD target for beta-lactams is time above MIC, so we switched to extended infusion.
For antibiotics, PD targets are grouped as time-dependent (beta-lactams), concentration-dependent (aminoglycosides) or exposure-dependent (vancomycin, measured as AUC/MIC). In neurology and psychiatry PD usually means Parkinson disease or personality disorder, so context matters.
11. Progressive disease
Medical · Hematology and Oncology Abbreviations
Cancer growth or spread during or after treatment, defined under RECIST 1.1 as at least a 20 percent increase in the sum of target lesion diameters (and at least 5 mm in absolute terms) or the appearance of any new lesion. It usually prompts a change of treatment.
Example: New liver lesions on restaging: PD per RECIST, switching to second-line therapy.
Immunotherapy can cause pseudoprogression, an initial apparent growth from immune cell infiltration before shrinkage, so the iRECIST criteria (2017) require confirmation of progression on a later scan. Clinical progression, such as worsening symptoms, can also lead to a change in treatment without imaging criteria. In neurology PD means Parkinson's disease.
12. Palladium (Pd)
Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations
Gasoline-engine catalytic converters consume most of the world's palladium, element 46, a platinum-group metal that can absorb hundreds of times its own volume of hydrogen. Chemists rely on palladium catalysts to join carbon atoms in cross-coupling reactions, essential for making many drugs and electronic materials.
Example: Run the Suzuki coupling with 2 mol% Pd catalyst in degassed dioxane at 90 °C.
William Hyde Wollaston discovered palladium in 1802 and named it after the asteroid Pallas, found that same year. He first sold it anonymously through a London shop, prompting skeptical chemists to suspect a fraudulent alloy. Richard Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki shared the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings.
13. Property damage liability
Transportation & Travel · Driving Abbreviations · also used in business
Auto insurance coverage that pays for damage the policyholder causes to other people's property, such as cars, fences and buildings, in an at-fault crash. It is the third number in a liability limit such as 25/50/25.
Example: Hitting a Tesla can blow past $25,000 of PD coverage quickly.
State minimums for property damage liability are often low compared with modern repair costs. PD does not cover the policyholder's own vehicle, which requires collision coverage. In policing, PD stands for police department, an unrelated meaning.
14. Paid (pd.)
Writing & Everyday · Everyday Abbreviations
Marks a bill, invoice or account entry as settled, often stamped or handwritten as "PD" with a date. It also abbreviates "paid" in accounting notes and receipts.
Example: The invoice was stamped "PD 3/14" and filed with the other receipts.
Small businesses often mark invoices "pd." with the date and payment method, such as a check number. In police contexts PD means police department, and in medicine Parkinson's disease, so the setting matters. Pd is also the chemical symbol for palladium.
15. Passes defensed
Sports · American Football Abbreviations
Defensive statistic for passes a defender deflects or breaks up; NFL statistics count interceptions as passes defensed as well. It measures coverage success beyond the interception total.
Example: The cornerback led the league with 20 PD and five interceptions.
College football usually calls the same stat pass breakups (PBU). Because coverage success is hard to quantify, scouts combine PD with targets allowed and completion rate allowed. Outside sports, PD usually means police department.
Related abbreviations
More police abbreviations
- PACE – Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
- PBT – Preliminary breath test
- PC – Police constable
- PCSO – Police community support officer
- PIT – Precision immobilization technique
- PO – Parole officer
- POI – Person of interest
- POST – Peace Officer Standards and Training
See all 84 police abbreviations →
More mental health & psychiatry abbreviations
- OUD – Opioid use disorder
- PANSS – Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale
- PCIT – Parent-child interaction therapy
- PCL-5 – PTSD Checklist for DSM-5
- PDD – Persistent depressive disorder
- PE – Prolonged exposure therapy
- PHP – Partial hospitalization program
- PHQ-2 – Patient Health Questionnaire-2
See all 100 mental health & psychiatry abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical or legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.