car
noun
an automobile.
car
1 American
[kahr]
/ kɑr /
noun
cars
plural
-
an automobile.
-
a vehicle running on rails, as a streetcar or railroad car.
-
the part of an elevator, balloon, modern airship, etc., that carries the passengers, freight, etc.
-
British Dialect. any wheeled vehicle, as a farm cart or wagon.
-
Literary. a chariot, as of war or triumph.
-
Archaic. cart; carriage.
car
2
American
[kahr]
/ kɑr /
CAR
3
American
car.
4
American
abbreviation
car
1
British
/ kɑː /
noun
-
-
Also called: motorcar. automobile. a self-propelled road vehicle designed to carry passengers, esp one with four wheels that is powered by an internal-combustion engine
-
( as modifier )
car coat
-
-
a conveyance for passengers, freight, etc, such as a cable car or the carrier of an airship or balloon
-
a railway vehicle for passengers only, such as a sleeping car or buffet car
-
a railway carriage or van
-
the enclosed platform of a lift
-
a poetic word for chariot
CAR
2
British
abbreviation
Usage
What else does car mean? To most of us on the outside, a car is a vehicle with a motor and four wheels. But in prison slang, your car is your crew, especially when it comes to drugs, protection, and money-making.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of car1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English carre, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin carra (feminine singular), from Latin, neuter plural of carrum, variant of carrus “baggage cart, freight wagon,” from Gaulish; akin to Old Irish carr “wheeled vehicle”
Origin of car2
First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English ( Scots ), from Scots Gaelic ceàrr “false, left, wrong”
Origin of CAR3
First recorded in 1980–85
Explanation
Your car is your automobile, your wheels, your vehicle. A car can also be another kind of moving compartment — such as a railroad car, a cable car, or a trolley car. The word car has been around much longer than the automobile. It comes from the Latin carrus, a kind of wagon the Romans discovered from the Gauls, a European people the Romans conquered. It shows up in Italian and Spanish (carro, meaning "a car or a cart," and it also survives in various forms in modern Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, German, and other languages. When you’re listening to your engine purr, you can thank the Gauls. And the Romans.
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.
Car companies don’t want to be just car companies these days.
From Barron's • Jun. 16, 2026
Mario remembers his shift at Harbor Blvd Car Wash on that clear August day.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 14, 2026
Appeared in the June 6, 2026, print edition as 'Stop Asking for My Car Advice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026
American Car Center and US Auto Sales have also gone bankrupt since 2022, when inflation and rates were both rising, according to a tally from Moody’s Ratings.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026
A “tall courtly black man with Shakespearean diction and the stare of an eagle,” Asa Philip Randolph, close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, headed the 35,000-strong Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
