Its form is merely a useful shorthand.

Brands are a useful shorthand for a complicated asset within an organization.

These codes are a useful international, and formal, shorthand for indicating languages.

They defend it as a useful shorthand.

A style is, therefore, a useful shorthand for various bits and pieces of behaviour that, taken together, give a discernible pattern.

Sure, every profession has its useful private shorthand, he says, and architecture is no exception.

Ethan said randomness is a useful shorthand for describing a pattern that's bigger than anything we can hold in our minds.

The language of purpose makes useful shorthand (try discussing human action without it!)

I thought it might serve as a useful shorthand.

The term was originally a derogatory epithet but is used by many historians as a useful shorthand.