Definitions

1. noun

Initialism for a nonstandard unit of measurement, particularly in the context of computing or programming, often used as a placeholder or for a variable in a program.

“The programmer used ‘ns’ as a placeholder for the nonstandard unit of time in the code.”

2. abbreviation

Abbreviation for ‘nonstandard’ or ‘not specified’.

“The report was marked ‘ns’ to indicate that the data was incomplete.”