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• ama
  ama

  noun

  a Japanese diver, usually a woman, who tends underwater oyster beds used in the cultivation of pearls.
• -ama
  -ama

  variant of -orama, occurring as the final element in compounds when the first element is a disyllable ending in - r, used so that the entire word maintains the same number of syllables as panorama .
• A.M.A.
  A.M.A.

  abbreviation

  American Management Association.
• AMA
  AMA

  abbreviation

  American Medical Association: a national group comprising over 200 state-level and specialized medical societies in the United States.

ama

¹ American  

[ah-mah] / ˈɑ mɑ /

noun

• amas,
  plural
• ama
  plural

1. a Japanese diver, usually a woman, who tends underwater oyster beds used in the cultivation of pearls.

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-ama ² American  

1. variant of -orama, occurring as the final element in compounds when the first element is a disyllable ending in - r, used so that the entire word maintains the same number of syllables as panorama .

   rollerama; Futurama.

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A.M.A. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. American Management Association.

2. American Medical Association.

3. American Motorcycle Association.

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AMA ⁴ American  

abbreviation

• AMAs
  plural

1. American Medical Association: a national group comprising over 200 state-level and specialized medical societies in the United States.

2. Digital Technology. ask me anything: an online interview in which users can submit any question via comments or live chat on the website hosting the interview; also used in prompts inviting users to submit any question.

3. American Motorcyclist Association.

4. American Music Awards.

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AMA British  

abbreviation

1. American Medical Association

2. Australian Medical Association

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ama
  plural
• amas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ama

From Japanese, dating back to 1945–50, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ama A.M.A. AMA amas

I am 60 years old, and ama server.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026

He added in the comments: "WOULDVE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown."

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2022

Nepia, a caretaker at a Māori immersion school, is among a group of expert waka ama paddlers who have been training for the World Sprint Champs in Britain.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2022

His two daughters refer to Etcheverry and his wife, Kathy, as aita and ama, Basque for father and mother.

From Washington Times ● May 7, 2016

But the son in addressing his father directly does not call him ama, but bapa, which is a more intimate and affectionate term; nor does he address his mother as ina, but bai.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 13 of 55 1604-1605 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of The Catholic Missions, As Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Emma Helen Blair

In the United States, the industry is worth an estimated $35 billion, and there are about 50,000 to 80,000 of these products, according to The A.M.A.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022

In the early 20th century, before the medical field held the same prestige it does today, the A.M.A. commissioned a report assessing the country’s medical schools for their rigor.

From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2020

Join him on Reddit at noon on Aug. 21 for a live A.M.A.

From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2019

Amid an uproar, the A.M.A. backed out of the deal; Sunbeam sued for breach of contract and won a ten-million-dollar settlement.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 5, 2019

You are entered and registered as a professional automobile racer, enrolled on the books of the A.M.A., under their protection and subject to their rules and authority for the future.

From From the Car Behind by James Montgomery Flagg

Alderson, who runs AMA Maritime Safety, said he would characterise it as a "significant incident" that deserves proper scrutiny so that lessons can be learned.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Some 700 physicians in the organization’s house of delegates—0.23% of AMA membership—vote for its officers and council members.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

The AMA ought to be ashamed for ignoring the bulk of American physicians.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Thousands of Reddit users have been writing questions to Burnham since he announced he would be holding an AMA session on Thursday.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Gradually, perhaps under the influence of a Middle English AMA, the worm was given sole rights to the word, and the doctor became the doctor, out of dek, meaning to accept, later to teach.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Paradigm, pre-Kuhn, referred merely to an example that serves an educational purpose; amo, amas, amat, for instance, is a paradigm for teaching conjugations in Latin.

From Scientific American ● May 23, 2012

Layoff, to a govt. worker 43. __, amas, amat 44.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Amo, amas, you know, and runnin’ about like hooligans: what would you advise?”

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

“Grace and I are just friends, Kojo. And ‘amo, amas, amat’ is Latin, not Spanish, although Spanish is considered one of the romance languages.”

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

Pli kaj pli mi ŝin amas = More and more I love her.

From The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by George Cox