- Macro is defined as something that covers a large amount, or is large in size.
- An example of macro is the study of the key driving aspects of an economy; macro economics.
- An example of macro is a very close up photograph of an ant; a macro photograph.
- The definition of a macro is one command on the computer that performs many commands at once.
An example of a macro is using Excel VBA to create multi function commands in the Microsoft program Excel.
Origin of macromacro(instruction)
- broad, general, or comprehensive in coverage, outlook, etc. or large in scale, effect, etc.: macro issues bringing together disparate factions
Origin of macro-; from Classical Greek makros, long ; from Indo-European an unverified form merós ; from base an unverified form māk-, long, slender from source Classical Latin macer, meager
- Of great size; large.
- Large in scope or extent; large-scale: a macro analysis of many reports.
nounpl. mac·ros Computers
- A single, user-defined command that is part of an application and executes a series of commands.
- A shorthand representation for a number of lines of code.
Origin of macroShort for macroinstruction.
- Large: macronucleus.
- Long: macrobiotics.
- Inclusive: macroinstruction.
Origin of macro-Greek makro-, from makros, large; see māk- in Indo-European roots.
- Very large in scope or scale.
- (programming, computing) A comparatively human-friendly abbreviation of complicated input to a computer program.
- The pre-processor expands any embedded macros into source code before it is compiled.
- 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 are designed to allow you to customize one particular program, while a programming language is designed for writing entirely new programs.
- While a shortcut is particularly easy to use, widely supported, and designed for normal users; macro systems are normally designed for power users.
1959, shortened form of macroinstruction.
- (photography) macro lens
- Another form of macro- is macr-, which is especially used before a vowel (a, e, i, o and u, and sometimes y).
macro - Computer Definition
A sequence of commands in an application that can be recorded or directly programmed to repeatedly execute this sequence. Macros have access to resources such as disks and networks on the computer. They are stored within the document format of the application. Typical examples are macros in Office Applications such as MS Word or Excel, where they are used extensively. Newer versions of these applications include options to turn off the execution of macros for security reasons.
See Also: Macro Virus.
(1) A shortcut method for invoking a sequence of user interface functions. Macros let users turn widely used sequences of menu selections and keystrokes into one command or key combination. For example, pressing the F2 key might cause several menu options to be selected and several dialog box OK buttons to be clicked in a prescribed sequence. Macros can be created automatically by recording the keyboard and mouse actions (see macro recorder). Macros are also used on home theater remote controls to switch sources. For example, when switching from cable TV to a DVD player, the macro causes the A/V receiver to switch audio source and the TV to switch video source (see IR remote control and RF remote control).
(2) A special-purpose command language within an application. See macro language.
(3) A camera close-up mode. See macro setting.
(4) In assembly language, a prewritten subroutine that is called for throughout the program. At assembly time, the macro calls are substituted with the actual subroutine or instructions that branch to it. The high-level language equivalent is a function.