Al

¹ American  

[al] / æl /

noun

1. a first name, form of Albert, Alfred, Aloysius.

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-al ² American  

1. a suffix with the general sense “of the kind of, pertaining to, having the form or character of” that named by the stem, occurring in loanwords from Latin (autumnal; natural; pastoral ), and productive in English on the Latin model, usually with bases of Latin origin (accidental; seasonal; tribal ). Originally, -al1 was restricted to stems not containing an -l- (-ar ); recent lapses in this rule have produced semantically distinct pairs, as familiar and familial.

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al. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. other things.

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Al ⁴ American  

Symbol, Chemistry.

1. aluminum.

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-al ⁵ American  

1. a suffix forming nouns from verbs, usually verbs of French or Latin origin.

   denial; refusal.

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al. ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. other persons.

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-al ⁷ American  

1. Chemistry. a suffix indicating that a compound contains an aldehyde group.

   chloral.

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al ⁸ American  

[ahl] / ɑl /

noun

1. Indian mulberry.

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AL ⁹ American  

abbreviation

1. Alabama (approved especially for use with zip code).

2. Anglo-Latin.

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al- ¹⁰ American  

1. variant of ad- before l: allure.

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Al- ¹¹ American  

1. a word in Arabic names meaning “family” or “the house of ”.

   Al-Saud, or the members of the house of Saud.

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AL. ¹² American  

abbreviation

1. Anglo-Latin.

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a.l. ¹³ American  

abbreviation

1. autograph letter.

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A.L. ¹⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Baseball. American League.

2. American Legion.

3. Anglo-Latin.

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AL ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. Alabama

2. Anglo-Latin

3. (in the US and Canada) American League (of baseball teams)

4. Albania (international car registration)

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-al ² British  

suffix

1. indicating an aldehyde

   ethanal

2. indicating a pharmaceutical product

   phenobarbital

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-al ³ British  

suffix

1. of; related to; connected with

   functional

   sectional

   tonal

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-al ⁴ British  

suffix

1. the act or process of doing what is indicated by the verb stem

   rebuttal

   recital

   renewal

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Al ⁵ British  

symbol

1. aluminium

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al ⁶ British  

abbreviation

1. Albania

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Etymology

Origin of -al²

< Latin ālis, -āle; often replacing Middle English -el < Old French

Origin of al.³

From the Latin word alia

Origin of -al⁵

< Latin -āle (singular), -ālia (plural), nominalized neuter of -ālis -al ¹; often replacing Middle English -aille < Old French < Latin -ālia

Origin of al.⁶

From the Latin word aliī

Origin of -al⁷

Presumed to be short for aldehyde

Origin of al⁸

From the Hindi word āl

Origin of Al-¹¹

From the Arabic word āl family

Example Sentences

That didn’t stop “Generations” from becoming a bestseller — Al Gore, then a Democratic senator from Tennessee, sent a copy to every member of Congress.

From Salon

Williams grew up in Trenton, N.J., listening to “Weird Al” Yankovic parodies, singing with his mother at church and rooting for the Eagles.

From The Wall Street Journal

Images of Ahmed Al Ahmed—a Syrian man who immigrated to Australia two decades ago and owns a tobacco shop in Sydney—tackling one of the attackers sped around the world quickly after Sunday’s assault.

From The Wall Street Journal

Shortly after “My Name is Khan” was released, I wrote that the Mumbai film industry at times resembled “a cross between a Michael Moore daydream and an Al Jazeera documentary.”

From The Wall Street Journal

For Al, a longtime religious studies professor at Loyola University New Orleans and community organizer, the construction process was more than just demolition and site prep.

From Los Angeles Times