API
n. countablen. Stands for Application Programming Interface. A set of rules that lets two computer programs talk to each other. You use it when you want an app to pull data from another service, like showing a map on a website.
n. Abbreviation for Application Programming Interface. A set of protocols and tools that allows different software applications to communicate and share data. It is ubiquitous in modern web development for integrating third-party services.
The new weather app uses an API to get live forecasts.
The developers integrated a payment API into the website so customers could check out securely without leaving the page.
By opening its API to third-party developers, the platform rapidly expanded its ecosystem, allowing independent creators to build custom tools that the original team had never envisioned.
Pronounced as an initialism (A-P-I); typically takes the definite article when referring to a specific service's interface.