PR
Abbreviation with 20 meanings
| Stands for | Public relations |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 20 |
| Categories | Business & Finance, Geography & Places, Technology & Computing, Sports, Medical, Government & Politics, Transportation & Travel, Law & Legal, Military, Science & Engineering, Religion |
| Also written | Pr, Pr. |
PR has 20 meanings. The most common are Public relations (marketing & advertising) and Puerto Rico (US territory and military mail); it can also stand for Pull request, Personal record, Per rectum (rectally), Proportional representation and Philippine Airlines, plus 13 more listed below.
Meanings of PR at a glance
1. Public relations
Business & Finance · Marketing & Advertising Abbreviations
Management of an organization's reputation and communication with the public, media, investors, employees and other stakeholders, through press releases, media relations, events, crisis communications and thought leadership. PR typically aims for earned rather than paid coverage.
Example: The PR team pitched the story to three trade publications before the launch.
Modern PR is often traced to Ivy Lee, whose 1906 "Declaration of Principles" promised journalists accurate information, and to Edward Bernays, whose 1923 book "Crystallizing Public Opinion" helped define the profession. The letters also mean press release, personal record (in sports), pull request (in software) and Puerto Rico. In PR jargon, "earned media" is coverage gained rather than bought.
2. Puerto Rico
Geography & Places · US Territory and Military Mail Abbreviations
Self-governing US commonwealth in the Caribbean since its 1952 constitution, with about 3.2 million residents who are US citizens but cannot vote in presidential general elections. San Juan is the capital, and ZIP codes begin with 006, 007 or 009.
Example: Ship to Calle Loíza 1500, San Juan, PR 00911, and include the urbanization name.
PR is also the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (alpha-3 PRI) and gives the .pr domain, so international forms may list Puerto Rico as a country. USPS asks senders to include the urbanization (URB) line because many San Juan streets share names. AP spells out Puerto Rico; P.R. appears in older texts. PR elsewhere means public relations or personal record.
3. Pull request
Technology & Computing · Programming Abbreviations
A request to merge a set of code changes from one branch into another, typically on GitHub, Bitbucket or Azure DevOps, where teammates review the diff, discuss it and run automated checks before approving the merge.
Example: Opened a PR for the login fix; can someone review it before standup?
GitHub popularized the term after its 2008 launch; the name comes from asking a maintainer to "pull" changes into their repository, echoing the git pull command. GitLab calls the same thing a merge request. Teams often require approving reviews and passing CI before merging. In machine learning PR can mean precision-recall, and in business public relations.
4. Personal record
Sports · Other Sports Abbreviations
Athlete's best-ever performance in an event, the American equivalent of PB, used by runners, swimmers, weightlifters and CrossFit athletes. Setting a new PR is often called "PRing".
Example: I finally hit a deadlift PR of 405 pounds at the gym today.
Running apps such as Strava automatically flag PRs for segments and distances. Weightlifters distinguish rep PRs from one-rep-max PRs. In American football PR means punt returner, and in business it means public relations.
5. Per rectum (rectally)
Medical · Medication Route Abbreviations
Administration of a drug into the rectum, usually as a suppository, enema or gel. It is used when patients cannot swallow or are vomiting, and for local bowel treatment; common examples include acetaminophen, bisacodyl and rectal diazepam for seizures.
Example: Acetaminophen 650 mg PR q6h PRN fever while NPO.
Latin "per rectum". Absorption is often erratic because it depends on suppository placement and bowel contents. In British prescribing "PR" also means "prolonged release", so British drug names ending in "PR" refer to the formulation, not the route; context distinguishes them. A "PR exam" is a digital rectal examination.
6. Proportional representation
Government & Politics · Political Abbreviations
Family of electoral systems that allocate legislative seats in proportion to the votes each party receives, typically in multi-member districts using party lists. Most European democracies, including the Netherlands, Spain and the Nordic countries, use a form of PR.
Example: Smaller parties have long campaigned to replace first-past-the-post with PR.
Common versions include party-list PR, the single transferable vote and mixed-member proportional systems. Many systems set a minimum vote threshold to win seats, such as 5 percent in Germany. In other contexts PR means public relations, and in addresses it is the postal code for Puerto Rico.
7. Philippine Airlines
Transportation & Travel · Airline Code Abbreviations
Manila-based national airline of the Philippines. Founded in 1941, it is often described as Asia's oldest commercial airline still operating under its original name.
Example: PR 103 from Los Angeles to Manila is a nonstop overnight flight.
ICAO code PAL; callsign "Philippine." It was the first Asian airline to fly across the Pacific to the US, in 1946. PR is also the US postal abbreviation for Puerto Rico and a common short form for public relations.
8. Partial response
Medical · Hematology and Oncology Abbreviations
Meaningful tumor shrinkage short of complete disappearance, defined under RECIST 1.1 as at least a 30 percent decrease in the sum of the diameters of target lesions compared with baseline. It counts toward the objective response rate.
Example: Restaging CT: 48% decrease in sum of target lesions, PR; continue current therapy.
Partial response must be confirmed on repeat imaging, usually at least four weeks later, in many trials. Tumor shrinkage that falls between a 30 percent decrease and a 20 percent increase is classified as stable disease. PR has unrelated medical meanings, such as per rectum on prescriptions and progesterone receptor in breast pathology.
9. Pityriasis rosea
Medical · Dermatology Abbreviations
Self-limited rash that starts with a single larger scaly oval "herald patch", followed one to two weeks later by many smaller oval patches on the trunk aligned along skin lines in a "Christmas tree" pattern. It mostly affects teenagers and young adults and resolves in about six to eight weeks.
Example: Herald patch on flank then trunk eruption in Christmas-tree distribution: PR; check RPR to exclude syphilis.
Reactivation of human herpesviruses 6 and 7 is suspected as the cause. Secondary syphilis can look very similar, so testing is often done. Treatment is mainly reassurance and itch relief. In prescriptions PR means per rectum.
10. Progesterone receptor
Medical · Hematology and Oncology Abbreviations
Hormone receptor measured alongside the estrogen receptor in breast cancer, indicating a tumor whose growth depends on hormonal signaling. PR expression usually accompanies ER positivity and generally signals a better prognosis.
Example: ER+/PR-/HER2-: luminal-type tumor with reduced PR expression; Ki-67 35%.
Tumors that are ER-positive but PR-negative tend to behave more aggressively and respond less well to endocrine therapy than those positive for both. Progesterone receptor status is part of AJCC 8th edition prognostic staging for breast cancer. In tumor response reports PR means partial response, and on prescriptions per rectum, so context is essential.
11. Personal recognizance
Law & Legal · Criminal Law Abbreviations
Release of an arrested person without cash bail on a signed promise to appear in court, sometimes with a set amount owed only if the person fails to appear. The phrase "PR bond" is especially common in Texas courts.
Example: The magistrate set a $5,000 PR bond, so she was released without paying anything up front.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 17.03 authorizes personal bonds, and pretrial services officers often recommend them after a risk assessment. Conditions such as reporting, GPS monitoring or no-contact orders may be attached. In probate, PR instead means personal representative, and in business, public relations.
12. Personal representative
Law & Legal · Estate and Family Law Abbreviations
Person appointed by a probate court to administer a deceased person's estate, collecting assets, paying debts and taxes and distributing what remains. The term covers both executors named in a will and administrators appointed when there is no will.
Example: The PR published notice to creditors and opened an estate checking account.
The Uniform Probate Code and states such as Florida, Michigan and Colorado use "personal representative" in place of executor and administrator. A PR receives letters testamentary or letters of administration as proof of authority. Under HIPAA, a personal representative can also access a deceased or incapacitated person's health records. In criminal court, PR means personal recognizance.
13. Aircrew Survival Equipmentman
Military · US Navy and Coast Guard Rating Abbreviations
Specialists who inspect, pack and repair parachutes, life rafts, flight suits, anti-g garments and survival kits, and fit aircrew with protective equipment. Their work keeps ejection and survival gear ready on every Navy and Marine Corps aircraft.
Example: PR2 Kowalski repacked the pilot's parachute after its scheduled inspection.
The abbreviation PR survives from the rating's original name, Parachute Rigger. Riders on the rating badge include a parachute. In Navy offices, PR more often means public relations, and in fitness it means personal record.
14. Pinch runner
Sports · Baseball Abbreviations
Substitute who replaces a baserunner, usually to add speed in a late inning. The replaced player is out of the game.
Example: They used a PR for the slow-footed catcher in the ninth.
Some teams have carried pure "designated runners"; Herb Washington of the 1974 Athletics appeared in 105 games without batting or fielding. Under the extra-innings rule a runner starts on second base, sometimes called the "Manfred runner". In running and fitness PR means personal record.
15. Punt returner
Sports · American Football Abbreviations
Player who catches punts and tries to advance them, deciding instantly whether to return the kick, signal a fair catch or let the ball bounce. Punt returners must judge spinning kicks while gunners close in.
Example: The PR muffed the catch at the 12 and the opponents recovered.
A fair catch, signaled by waving one arm overhead, gives up the return in exchange for protection from being hit. Devin Hester's 14 punt-return touchdowns are the NFL record. In running and weightlifting PR means personal record, a far more common meaning outside football.
16. Prolonged release
Medical · Pharmacy Abbreviations
European regulatory term for extended-release products, used in drug names on UK and EU labels such as tramadol PR and tacrolimus PR. It is the EMA's standard term where US labels say "extended-release".
Example: Tacrolimus PR (Advagraf) once daily; do not substitute with twice-daily Prograf.
Transplant patients have suffered rejection after being switched unintentionally between once-daily and twice-daily tacrolimus formulations, so UK and EU guidance requires brand-name prescribing. "PR" in charts much more often means "per rectum", so context matters.
17. Prairie (Pr)
Geography & Places · Address Abbreviations
Flat grassland of the Midwest and Great Plains, used in street names across the region; USPS abbreviates Prairie as PR, the same letters as Puerto Rico's postal code.
Example: The grain co-op is at 600 Sunset Pr Rd.
PR after a street name means Prairie, while PR after a city name means Puerto Rico. Grand Prairie, Texas, and Eden Prairie, Minnesota, use the word in their names.
18. Praseodymium (Pr)
Science & Engineering · Chemical Element Abbreviations
Usually alloyed with neodymium in high-strength permanent magnets for motors and wind turbines, praseodymium (atomic number 59) is a soft lanthanide. Its compounds tint glass and ceramics yellow-green, and didymium glass, containing praseodymium and neodymium, protects the eyes of glassblowers and blacksmiths from sodium glare.
Example: Magnet makers buy NdPr oxide, a mixed product in which Pr substitutes for part of the neodymium.
Carl Auer von Welsbach showed in 1885 that "didymium," long thought to be an element, was actually two, which he named praseodymium and neodymium. Praseodymium comes from Greek prasios (leek-green) and didymos (twin), for the color of its salts.
19. Precision-recall (curve)
Technology & Computing · Artificial Intelligence Abbreviations
A plot of a classifier's precision, the share of predicted positives that are correct, against its recall, the share of actual positives found, across decision thresholds. It is preferred over ROC when positive cases are rare.
Example: Because only 0.2 percent of transactions are fraud, report PR-AUC rather than ROC AUC.
The area under it, written PR-AUC or average precision, summarizes performance in one number. A random classifier's PR curve sits at the positive class rate rather than at 0.5. In software PR means pull request, and in business public relations.
20. Pastor (Pr.)
Religion · Religious Title Abbreviations
Abbreviation for pastor used in some Lutheran, Seventh-day Adventist and evangelical churches, particularly in Scandinavia, Australia and Germany-influenced communities, as in "Pr. Johan Andersson". It identifies an ordained minister who leads a congregation.
Example: The bulletin lists Pr. Anna Berg as the preacher for Sunday.
In American usage the full word "Pastor" is more common, as in "Pastor Rick Warren". The word pastor comes from Latin for "shepherd". AP style recommends "the Rev." on first reference instead of pastor as a title for most clergy.
Related abbreviations
More marketing & advertising abbreviations
- POD – Point of difference
- POP – Point of purchase
- PPC – Pay-per-click
- PQL – Product-qualified lead
- RFM – Recency, frequency, monetary value
- ROAS – Return on ad spend
- ROMI – Return on marketing investment
- RPM – Revenue per mille
See all 111 marketing & advertising abbreviations →
More US territory and military mail abbreviations
- FPO – Fleet Post Office
- GU – Guam
- MP – Northern Mariana Islands
- MPSA – Military Postal Service Agency
- PSC – Postal Service Center
- UM – U.S. Minor Outlying Islands
- USVI – United States Virgin Islands
- VI – U.S. Virgin Islands
See all 18 US territory and military mail abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical or legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.