POV

See also: pov, PoV, pov', p.o.v., and P.O.V.

English

Noun

POV (plural POVs)

1. Initialism of point of view.

   Synonym: viewpoint

   Antonyms: (epistemically) NPOV, point-of-viewlessness; eticness

   Hyponyms: (epistemically) worldview; emicness

   Alternative forms: P.O.V., PoV, p.o.v., pov

   • 1988, Kristin Thompson, Breaking the Glass Armor: Neoformalist Film Analysis, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 308:

     By this time we might suspect that he had not been looking at her in the previous shot, and that the bird shot had been from his pov.

   • 1993, Richard Price, 3 Screenplays, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 261:

     From his pov, we see Boom Boom Grossman, 60, huge ex-pug Jack Dempsey look-alike with meat-hook hands and meat-pie face.

   • 1999, Laurence A. Rickels, The vampire lectures, page 259:

     When one of the girls goes down into the basement, she is devoured by the POV accompanied by audio portions of werewolfish sounds.

   • 2015, Kate Elliott, The Very Best of Kate Elliott, Tachyon Publications, →ISBN, page 344:

     A female point-of-view (pov) character is not necessarily written from the perspective of a female gaze. […] A pov character is a character through whose eyes and perspective we follow the action of the story.

   • 2022, Peter C. Pugsley, Ben McCann, The Cinematic Influence: Interaction and Exchange Between the Cinemas of France and Japan, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN:

     The film takes us immediately to Oscar’s pov, complete with momentary ‘blackouts’ as he blinks. […] Soon, still from Oscar’s pov, he begins lighting up a form of hallucinatory drug, and after a seemingly interminable number of attempts, begins to achieve the high he was seeking.

   • 2022, Nigel Hamilton, “The Missing Key: Theorizing Modern Historical Biography”, in Hans Renders, David Veltman, editors, Fear of Theory: Towards a New Theoretical Justification of Biography, Brill, →ISBN, part I (Reflections on Theory and Biography), page 39:

     Who would dare theorize the history and practice of jazz without taking into account its significant composers, vocalists and instrumentalists from their pov?

   • 2023 March 14, Alexandra Jacobs, “Your Annoying Roommate Is Slaying on TikTok”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Ms. Brier specializes in point of view, or P.O.V., videos that confront relatable, often hateable characters, with a subtle sneer, gleefully rubbery body and arch delivery of generational catchphrases like “slay, queen” and “I got you,” often repeated for effect.

2. Initialism of privately owned vehicle.
3. (finance, computing) Initialism of percentage of volume, a type of securities trading algorithm.

Usage notes

• (point of view) The acronym POV has gone through a semantic shift on the social media app TikTok, where it refers to videos not filmed from any individual's actual point of view, but rather to give context to a situation.
• In fan fiction and amateur fiction online, sometimes used to indicate a change of protagonist, e.g. "POV: Bobby".

Anagrams

• OPV, PVO, VOP, OVP