Preferred spellings
The University uses the Macquarie Dictionary as its primary resource for the spelling of words. Where two spellings are acceptable (for example, ‘adviser’ and ‘advisor’), the first listed spelling is generally the preferred choice.
When using the spelling checker in Microsoft Word ensure that the language (which can be found under the ‘Tools’ menu) is set to English (UK) or English (AUS), not to English (US) which is the default option. Only the English (UK) version does not flag -ise spellings as incorrect (for example, organise, realise, amortise, etc).
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
adviser
acknowledgement
am (time)
CD-ROM (with hyphen)
century (19th century)
childcare
convenor
cooperate
cooperative
coordinate
coordinator
cross-cultural
cross-faculty
database
desktop publishing
a desktop-publishing job
disk (computer)
e-business
e-commerce
ecosystems
eg
email
enclose (not inclose)
etc
enquire
enquiry
the Faculty of XXX (specific)
faculty (general)
fax (not facsimile)
fieldwork
filmmaker
film-making
five years’ work
flowchart
focused, focused, focusing
framework
FT (full time) (not F/T)
full-time students (but to study full time)
fundraising
government (general)
Government (specific)
handbook
home page
indigenous (for generic use – indigenous to the area)
Indigenous (for Indigenous Australians)
interfaculty
intergovernmental
internet
interrelationships
interstate
intra-faculty
intragroup
intranet
infra-red
intrastate
judgement
learnt (past tense of learn)
learned (scholarly)
life cycle
life span
lifelong
local government
long-term
macroeconomics
marketplace
microeconomics
mm
multicultural
multidisciplinary
multimedia
multinational
multiskilled
multistorey
MS DOS
non-English-speaking background
noticeboard
offshore
Olympic
online
organisation (not organization)
Parliament (e.g. Federal Parliament, State Parliament)
part-time students, but to study part time
payroll
pm (time)
postgraduate
post-colonial / post-colonialist
Post-Colonialism
post-modern
Post-Modernism
post-modernist
post-structuralist
post-war
pro rata
program (not programme)
screenwriting
sociocultural
socioeconomic
sociopolitical
soundtrack
South-East Asia
south-east
south-west
specialty (not speciality)
State (e.g. the State of Victoria, a specific State in Australia)
state (generic)
subediting
subtotal
subsection
Territory (to refer to a specific place, e.g. Northern Territory)
timetable
undergraduate
the University, but universities in general
web, the
webpage
website
weekday
wellbeing
workload
workplace
workshop (verb)
world-class
World Wide Web
X-ray