macro

See also: Macro and macró

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæk.ɹoʊ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæk.ɹəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækɹəʊ
• Hyphenation: ma‧cro

Etymology 1

From macro-, from French, from Latin, ulimately from Ancient Greek μακρός (makrós, “long”).

Adjective

macro (not comparable)

1. Very large in scale or scope.

   Antonym: micro

   • 1999, Katharine Gates, Deviant Desires: Incredibly Strange Sex, page 115:

     Crumb's sexual fixation on gigantic women's legs became a major feature of his most celebrated images. Despite the common themes among macrophiles, Ed Lundt believes that no two macro fantasies are quite alike […]

   • 2022 November 2, Brian X. Chen, “Personal Tech Has Changed. So Must Our Coverage of It.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 12 January 2023:

     But simply turning off iCloud backups was an incomplete solution. The macro problem, I wrote in my column last year, is that people have sacrificed ownership and control of their data.

2. (cooking, colloquial) Clipping of macrobiotic.
   • 2015, Elizabeth Stein, Eating Purely:

     While there are many aspects to this way of living, the actual “diet” focuses on whole foods, consumed in traditional methods. A typical macro bowl includes grains, beans, steamed veggies, sea vegetables, and fermented foods.

Translations

very large in scale — see also macro-

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 宏 (zh) (hóng)

• Telugu: స్థూల (te) (sthūla)

Noun

macro (countable and uncountable, plural macros or macroes)

1. (uncountable, economics, colloquial) Clipping of macroeconomics.

   Coordinate term: micro

   • 2019 January 28, Seth Fiegerman, “Apple earnings: How low can iPhone sales go?”, in CNN Business‎^[2], archived from the original on 31 May 2019:

     On Monday, chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) cut its sales outlook for the fourth quarter, citing “deteriorating macroeconomic conditions, particularly in China.” Last week, Intel’s (INTC) CEO also noted that “trade and macro concerns, especially in China, have intensified.”

2. (uncountable, gaming, slang) Clipping of macromanagement.

   Coordinate term: micro

3. (countable, nutrition, colloquial, chiefly in the plural) Clipping of macronutrient.
   • 2018, Spencer Langley, Flex Life: How to Transform Your Body Forever, Flex Life Inc., →ISBN, page 81:

     Don't be afraid to include some “unhealthy” foods in your diet. The overarching rule about foods is if it fits your macros (IIFYM), then you can eat it. That means you can eat chocolate, ice cream, and many other indulgences […]

4. (countable, paraphilia, colloquial) Clipping of macrophile.

   Coordinate term: micro

5. (uncountable, paraphilia, colloquial) Clipping of macrophilia.

   Coordinate term: micro

6. (countable, paraphilia, colloquial, also attributive) In the context of macrophilia, one who is abnormally very large.

   Synonyms: giant, giantess

   Coordinate terms: micro; tiny (noun)

7. (countable, photography, colloquial) Ellipsis of macro lens.
   • 1980, Popular Science, volume 217, number 6, page 94:

     Most macros are made by camera manufacturers to fit their cameras

   • 2008, Richard Satterlie, Agnes Hahn:

     The lens was a macro, capable of everything from an “infinity shot” to a close-up in which a single fingerprint filled the entire frame.

Derived terms

• macrofur
• terra macro

Verb

macro (third-person singular simple present macros or macroes, present participle macroing or macro'ing, simple past and past participle macroed or macrod or macro'ed or macro'd)

1. (ambitransitive, gaming, slang) Clipping of macromanage.

   Coordinate term: micro

See also

• giga
• nano

Etymology 2

Clipping of macroinstruction. First attested in 1959.

Noun

macro (plural macros or macroes)

1. (programming, often attributive) A comparatively human-friendly abbreviation of complex input to a computer program.

   The preprocessor expands any embedded macros into source code before it is compiled.

   • 1998, Dr. Cat, “Furry web site plug”, in alt.fan.furry (Usenet):

     There's also a spam filter in the code now, so if someone attempts to flood people's screens with macros or a bot, everything after the first few lines is thrown away.

   • 2004, Paul Kimmel, Excel 2003 VBA Programmer's Reference, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 2:

     A recurring theme in this book is to record an Excel macro and then show how to adapt the recorded code.

   • 2010, Debasish Ghosh, DSLs in Action‎^[3], Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     Languages belonging to the Lisp family make use of macros to provide support for compile-time metaprogramming.

   • 2021, Dean Wampler, chapter 24, in Programming Scala, 3rd edition, O'Reilly, →ISBN:

     This should make intuitive sense because the purpose of the macro system is to transform code from one valid form to a final form, such as inserting logic automatically that would otherwise have been written explicitly.

Usage notes

• Often used attributively: a macro language is the syntax for defining new macros; while macro expansion refers to the task of replacing the human-friendly version with a machine-readable version; a macro virus is a computer virus written in a macro language. Individual macros are sometimes referred to as macro functions, particularly when they accept parameters.
• The distinction between a macro language and a programming language is imprecise. Often a macro language is designed to allow one to customise one particular program, whereas a programming language is designed for writing entirely new programs.
• In the programming language Lisp, a macro is a function that creates and returns unevaluated code, unlike a regular function which evaluates code.
• Whereas a shortcut is particularly easy to use, widely supported, and designed for normal users, macro systems are normally designed for power users.

Derived terms

• anaphoric macro
• Emacs
• image macro
• macro expansion
• macro function
• macro guard
• macroing
• macrolanguage
• macro language
• macrolike
• macrovirus
• mediamacro

Descendants

• Chinese:
  • → Mandarin: 宏 (hóng), 巨集 (jùjí) (calque)
• → Czech: makro
• → Danish: makro
• → Finnish: makro
• → French: macro
• → German: Makro
• → Hungarian: makró
• → Japanese: マクロ (makuro)
• → Korean: 매크로 (maekeuro)
• → Marathi: मॅक्रो (mĕkro)
• Norwegian:
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: makro
  • → Norwegian Nynorsk: makro
• → Portuguese: macro
• → Russian: ма́крос (mákros)
• → Spanish: macro

Translations

abbreviation of complicated input

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 宏 (zh) (hóng), (Taiwan) 巨集 (zh) (jùjí)

• Czech: makro (cs) n
• Danish: makro c
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: makro (fi)
• French: macro (fr) f, macro-commande (fr) f
• German: Makro (de) n
• Greek: μακροεντολή f (makroentolí)
• Hebrew: מאקרו m (mákro)
• Hungarian: makró (hu)
• Icelandic: fjölvaskipun f, fjölvi m
• Japanese: マクロ (ja) (makuro)
• Korean: 매크로 (maekeuro)
• Māori: tonotono
• Marathi: मॅक्रो m (mĕkro)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: makro m

  Nynorsk: makro m

• Portuguese: macro (pt) f
• Russian: ма́крос (ru) m (mákros), макрокома́нда (ru) f (makrokománda)
• Spanish: macro (es) f
• Thai: please add this translation if you can

Verb

macro (third-person singular simple present macros or macroes, present participle macroing or macro'ing, simple past and past participle macroed or macrod or macro'ed or macro'd)

1. (intransitive, computing, informal) To use a macro.
   • 1998 July 20, d cundiff, “GMs....”, in alt.games.ultima-online‎^[4] (Usenet), archived from the original on 5 December 2025:

     After i got ressirected^[sic] the stat loss hit me hard, i macroed for a few days, sparred with some friends, and my skills were soon back up.

   • 1999 March 16, Andrew Blackwell, “Help : Healing”, in rec.games.computer.ultima.online‎^[5] (Usenet), archived from the original on 5 December 2025:

     Do this poison thing gradually increasing potency until you hit about 78 then macro on a ghost to GM

   • 2000 December 2, Rich, “dag-nabit makes yet another confession”, in microsoft.public.games.zone.asherons_call‎^[6] (Usenet), archived from the original on 5 December 2025:

     Ok, i have to admit i macroed for 3 lvls to get my magic defence sorted :(

2. (transitive, computing, informal) To use a macro on (something).
   • 1999 March 16, Andrew Blackwell, “Help : Healing”, in rec.games.computer.ultima.online‎^[7] (Usenet), archived from the original on 5 December 2025:

     He said he macroed anatomy from 0 to about 80 and his healing went from the 52 he started with to 58.2.

   • 2001 January 15, Peter Duniho, “Some really lame things go on in this game”, in microsoft.public.games.zone.asherons_call‎^[8] (Usenet), archived from the original on 5 December 2025:

     For that matter, you can do something by killing the character being macroed. :) It IS Darktide after all.

   • 2003 December 9, Graeme Faelban, “How I cast spells with my cleric”, in alt.games.everquest‎^[9] (Usenet), archived from the original on 5 December 2025:

     Same here, macroed my really gimp CH, none of the others.

Derived terms

• macroer

See also

• template

Anagrams

• AMORC, Armco, Comar, Coram, Marco, carom, croma

Italian

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin macrum (“lean, skinny”). Doublet of magro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.kro/
• Rhymes: -akro
• Hyphenation: mà‧cro

Adjective

macro (feminine macra, masculine plural macri, feminine plural macre)

1. (literary) thin, skinny, scrawny

   Synonym: magro

Related terms

• macie
• macilento

Further reading

• macro¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Etymology 2

From the clipping of various terms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.kro/
• Rhymes: -akro
• Hyphenation: mà‧cro

Adjective

macro (invariable)

1. (photography) clipping of macrofotografico

Noun

macro f (invariable)

1. (computing) clipping of macroistruzione

Further reading

• macro² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Etymology 3

Unadapted borrowing from French macro, from maquereau.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maˈkro/^*
• Rhymes: -o
• Hyphenation: ma‧cró

Noun

macro m (invariable)

1. (slang) pimp

   Synonyms: (literary) lenone, (Rome) pappa, (regional) pappone, protettore, ruffiano

Further reading

• macro³ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• Marco, croma, marco, marcò

Latin

Adjective

macrō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of macer

References

• “macro”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈma.kɾu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈma.kɾu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈma.kɾo/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈma.kɾɔ/

• Hyphenation: ma‧cro

Noun

macro f or m (plural macros)

1. (computing) macro (abbreviation of complicated input)

Etymology 2

Noun

macro m (plural macros)

1. alternative form of mácron

Further reading

• “macro”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “macro”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Noun

macro n (plural macrouri)

1. alternative form of macrou

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	macro	macroul	macrouri	macrourile
genitive-dative	macro	macroului	macrouri	macrourilor
vocative	macroule		macrourilor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmakɾo/ [ˈma.kɾo]
• Rhymes: -akɾo
• Syllabification: ma‧cro

Noun

macro m (plural macros)

1. (computing) macro

Further reading

• “macro”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025