ala
noun
a wing.
ala
1 American
[ey-luh]
/ ˈeɪ lə /
noun
-
alae
plural
-
a wing.
-
a winglike part, process, or expansion, as of a bone, shell, seed, or stem.
-
either of the two side petals of a flower in the legume family, as the pea.
-
(in an ancient Roman house) a small room, as an alcove, opening into a larger room or courtyard.
Ala
2
American
[ah-lah]
/ ˈɑ lɑ /
noun
Ala
3
American
abbreviation
Biochemistry.
Ala.
4
American
abbreviation
A.L.A.
5
American
abbreviation
-
American Library Association.
-
Associate in Liberal Arts.
-
Authors League of America.
-
Automobile Legal Association.
ala
1
British
/ ˈeɪlə /
noun
-
zoology a wing or flat winglike process or structure, such as a part of some bones and cartilages
-
botany a winglike part, such as one of the wings of a sycamore seed or one of the flat petals of a sweet pea flower
Ala.
2
British
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ala
1730–40; < Latin āla wing, armpit, shoulder, representing *aks-lā, derivative of same base as axis axle ( see axis 1); see axle
Vocabulary lists containing ala
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Can he envision playing 17 seasons, ala Stafford?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025
Last month I also decided to practice manifestation ala influencer Amanda Francis, and as I delivered four large dishes to a client, I said to myself, “Money is flowing toward me in abundance.”
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2024
At the end of the event, he was asked to press his hands into a tray of butter — ala The Hollywood Walk of Fame — as part of new ad campaign “Butter Call Saul.”
From Washington Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
The game pauses, and you have so many seconds to make your choice before action resumes with a little “Character will remember that” box ala the Telltale games of yore.
From The Verge ● Oct. 27, 2021
The word is derived from the Latin ala, meaning a wing.
From The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia by William James Miller
He now runs his own manufacturing consulting firm in Huntsville, Ala.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
He’s a civil rights lawyer who has argued death penalty cases at the Supreme Court, and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Ala.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025
Her two sisters, Ala and Jana, nod in agreement as we sit, squeezed together on this cold winter's day, on an old lumpy sofa in their humble home in Homs.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024
Memory has reduced “Forrest Gump” to a few lines of dialogue and the ubiquitous meme of Tom Hanks “running like the wind” blows down the country road outside his home in Greenbow, Ala.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2024
“Really? I thought if we studied the Ala Wai Canal . . .” She trails off.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Until that point, the football lifer from Eufaula, Ala., had done everything by the book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
In Detroit, Indianapolis, Birmingham, Ala., and Louisville, Ky., it also takes fewer than 12 years.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
The acquisition would provide Hanwha with Austal’s Mobile, Ala., shipyard and access to major contracts that include some of America’s most sensitive naval programs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Born Trent Clutts on Dec. 16, 1958, in Huntsville, Ala., Cody was inspired to pursue a career in broadcasting during visits to a Kentucky radio station with his dad.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
"You're just a little bit brash," said his veteran friend, who had just been through the long, hungry march from Huntsville, Ala., to Louisville.
From Si Klegg, Book 1 (of 6) His Transformation From A Raw Recruit To A Veteran by John McElroy
The A.L.A. experimented with arrangements for choosing the winners before opting, in the late 1930s, for a committee of 23 librarians who selected both the Newbery and Caldecott recipients.
From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2019
But Ungerer crossed a line at the A.L.A. event, as the crowd pushed him—asking how dare he draw “Fornicon” and children’s books.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2015
Up until his remarks at the A.L.A. conference, Ungerer had co-existed in several worlds at once, working brilliantly in each.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2015
It was the first A.L.A. award for Mr. Alexander, a poet and novelist who has published 17 books.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2015
The Trustees' Section of the A.L.A., founded in order that Library trustees might gather yearly to discuss their peculiar problems, has always been scantily attended.
From The Library and Society Reprints of Papers and Addresses by Arthur Elmore Bostwick
The wildlife refuge is a wetland that provides nesting, feeding and resting habitat to the endangered Hawaiian stilt, known as aeo, and the Hawaiian coot or alae keokeo.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
As Maui-mua began to wring its neck, the alae again spoke, and said: “Let me live, and you shall have the fire.”
From Hawaiian Folk Tales A Collection of Native Legends by Thomas G. (Thomas George) Thrum
But Maui-mua, in revenge for the conduct of the alae, after he had got the fire from the dry stick, said: “Now, there is one thing more to try.”
From Hawaiian Folk Tales A Collection of Native Legends by Thomas G. (Thomas George) Thrum
When it is from fifty to sixty feet in length, devote one fourth of the length to the alae.
From The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio
The base is reflected in 3 and straight in 2; the alae are small in 3, moderately large and rounded in 1, and wide and horizontal in 1.
From The Pagan Tribes of Borneo by Alfred C. (Alfred Cort) Haddon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
