English Reference

Word

PAC

Phoneticspac

/ˈpæk/

Definitions

01political fundraising group

C1

n. Stands for Political Action Committee. In the US, this is an organization that collects money from members to support or oppose political candidates.

n. Abbreviation for Political Action Committee. An organization in the United States that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation.

“The candidate received a large donation from a PAC representing the local teachers' union.”

“The influence of corporate PACs on federal elections remains a central point of contention in debates regarding campaign finance reform.”

American English · Technical

Synonyms

lobby groupinterest group

02industrial computer controller

C2 · Computing

n. Stands for Programmable Automation Controller. It is a type of computer used in factories to control machines and robots.

n. Abbreviation for Programmable Automation Controller. A digital computer used for automation of typically industrial electromechanical processes, combining the features of a PLC with the processing power of a PC.

“The engineer installed a new PAC to manage the assembly line more efficiently.”

“Modern manufacturing facilities often prefer a PAC over a traditional PLC when the system requires complex motion control and high-speed data processing.”

Technical

Synonyms

03web browser configuration file

C2 · Computing

n. Stands for Proxy Auto-Config. It is a file that tells your web browser how to connect to the internet through a proxy server.

n. Abbreviation for Proxy Auto-Config. A file format used by web browsers to determine whether web traffic should go directly to the destination or be routed through a proxy server.

“The IT department updated the PAC file to fix the connection issues in the office.”

“By deploying a centralized PAC file, the network administrator can dynamically manage how different browsers within the organization handle external traffic.”

Technical

Synonyms

config file

05machine learning theory

C2 · Computing

adj. Stands for Probably Approximately Correct. It is a way to describe how well a computer program learns from data.

adj. Abbreviation for Probably Approximately Correct. A mathematical framework for analyzing machine learning algorithms to determine the number of samples needed to learn a hypothesis with high probability and low error.

“The professor explained the PAC learning model in the advanced computer science class.”

“The PAC framework provides a rigorous theoretical basis for understanding the generalization capabilities of various supervised learning algorithms.”

Academic · Technical

Real-World Examples

“The Saturday filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) represents the first major spend in a general election by MAGA, Inc, a super PAC named for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.”
Al Jazeera · 5 Sept 2026
“Political strategists are adopting PAC names that signal the opposite political goals from what those organizations truly intend.”
The Conversation · 12 Aug 2026

Domains

ComputingMilitary

This entry

Level
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Frequent
Updated

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English Reference