What does coms mean?
Coms is an informal English abbreviation of 'communications', used to describe the systems, channels, or messages through which information travels between people. It appears most often in spoken contexts such as military operations ('we lost coms with the convoy'), aviation, broadcasting, and modern workplaces, where phrases like 'internal coms' or 'marketing coms' describe teams and functions responsible for messaging. Because the word is a casual clipping rather than a formal term, it suits conversation, journalism, and industry jargon better than official documentation, where the full word 'communications' remains standard. A closely related variant, 'comms', is especially prevalent in British usage, and the two are interchangeable in meaning though writers typically choose one consistently. Compact and instantly understood within its communities, coms captures how everyday language compresses even the broadest concepts into a single brisk syllable-plus-s.
nounComs is an informal abbreviation of 'communications', referring to the systems, channels, or messages by which people exchange information.
- Informal abbreviation for communications — the systems or channels used to send and receive information.
- Informal abbreviation for a department or role dealing with communications (e.g. in business or government).
"The team lost coms with the base camp during the storm."
"Mission control reported intermittent coms with the satellite before it went silent."
"She heads up internal coms for the company's London office."
Coms is already a plural-form abbreviation and is not usually further pluralized.
"Both aircraft checked in on coms before entering the corridor."
Soldiers, astronauts, and event planners all say it: when you 'lose coms', you've gone dark — this tiny clipped word carries the full weight of human connection.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of coms
Coms is a twentieth-century clipping of 'communications', which itself derives from Latin 'communicare', meaning 'to share or make common', via the root 'communis' (common, shared). The same Latin root gives English words such as communicate, commune, common, and communal, all built on the idea of shared connection. As telecommunications expanded through radio, telephone, and later digital networks, speakers shortened the word to coms (and the variant comms) for speed in operational and workplace settings.
Related word forms
How coms is actually used
Coms is informal and conversational, common in military, aviation, technical, and workplace speech. The variant spelling 'comms' is at least as common, especially in British English, so writers should pick one form and stay consistent within a document.
Easily confused with coms
Coms and comms are both abbreviations of 'communications' — 'comms' is the more widespread British form, while 'coms' appears more often in technical and military contexts; they mean the same thing.