p
abbreviation
p
1 Americanabbreviation
p
2
American
abbreviation
P
3
American
[pee]
/ pi /
Or
p
noun
-
P's,
plural
-
Ps,
plural
-
p's,
plural
-
ps
plural
-
the sixteenth letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
-
any spoken sound represented by the letter P or p, as in pet, supper, top, etc.
-
something having the shape of a P .
-
a written or printed representation of the letter P or p.
-
a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter P or p.
P
4
American
abbreviation
-
Education. (as a rating of student performance) passing.
-
Chess. pawn.
-
Electronics. plate.
-
poor.
-
Grammar. predicate.
-
Protestant.
P
5
American
Symbol.
-
the 16th in order or in a series.
-
(sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 400.
-
Genetics. parental.
-
Chemistry. phosphorus.
-
Physics.
-
Chemistry. proton.
-
Biochemistry. proline.
p-
6
American
abbreviation
P-
7
American
abbreviation
p.
8
American
abbreviation
p.
9
American
abbreviation
p.
10
American
abbreviation
p.
11
American
abbreviation
-
page.
-
part.
-
participle.
-
past.
-
Chess. pawn.
-
penny; pence.
-
per.
-
Grammar. person.
-
peseta.
-
peso.
-
pint.
-
pipe.
-
Baseball. pitcher.
-
pole.
-
population.
-
president.
-
pressure.
-
purl.
P.
12
American
abbreviation
P.
13
American
abbreviation
-
pastor.
-
peseta.
-
peso.
-
post.
-
president.
-
pressure.
-
priest.
-
prince.
-
progressive.
P
1
British
symbol
-
chem phosphorus
-
physics
-
pressure
-
power
-
parity
-
poise
-
-
(on road signs) parking
-
chess pawn
-
currency
-
(the former) peseta
-
peso
-
pataca
-
pula
-
abbreviation
-
Portugal (international car registration)
-
pharmacy only: used to label medicines that can be obtained without a prescription, but only at a shop at which there is a pharmacist
p.
2
British
abbreviation
-
page
-
part
-
participle
-
past
-
per
-
post
-
pro
p
3
British
symbol
-
(in Britain) penny or pence
-
music piano: an instruction to play quietly
-
pico-
-
physics
-
momentum
-
proton
-
pressure
-
p
4
British
/ piː /
noun
-
the 16th letter and 12th consonant of the modern English alphabet
-
a speech sound represented by this letter, usually a voiceless bilabial stop, as in pig
-
to be careful to behave correctly and use polite or suitable language
p-
5
British
prefix
p
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of p1
From the Italian word piano
Origin of p.8
From the Latin word pater
Origin of p.9
From the Italian word piano
Origin of p.10
From the Latin word post
Origin of P.12
From the Latin word Pater
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:
Rajadhyaksha points out there is a “remarkably consistent pattern p st most geopolitical conflicts …of an initial shock…then a grind back as economic fundamentals reassert themselves.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
Age also influenced how quickly symptoms followed rising p tau217 levels.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026
She appeared p alongside former presenter Holly Willoughby on Willoughby's first show following the departure of her co-host Phillip Schofield.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2023
The Warriors were without p Draymond Green for personal reasons and Gary Payton II due to an illness.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 8, 2023
On the p of please, he spits out a packing peanut.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
“It was ‘art’—theater and absurd all at the same time,” recalls Susan P.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Hollywood actress Taraji P Henson said the series had her in a "chokehold" and she binge-watched all 22 episodes in a single day.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Some juicy wordplay: How many words can you make with the letters N, U, E, P, G, and R?
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
Under typical conditions, Po and So waves form when P and S waves scatter repeatedly through layered structures inside an oceanic plate.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
A week into my suspension, I was sitting on our front porch, thinking about stuff, contemplating, when old Mr. P walked up our driveway.
From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
“It’s awful hard to ask the girl, ‘Will you go to the p- pr- pr- prom with me?’
From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2022
The antiproton p- is u- u- d , for example.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
It was p- pretty f-f-foggy when we got to the wharf, and we s-saw it wouldn't be s-safe for F-Father and M-M-Mother and B-Betty and Alice and the b-b-baby to go sailing, anyhow.
From The Voyage of the Hoppergrass by Edmund Lester Pearson
It was something like this: Man with p- Get- Br- We spelled it out slowly.
From The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Transcriber's Note: The hyphen at the end of the third line of the second verse is deliberate in the original, so that "two p-" pronounced as one syllable rhymes with "soup."
From Songs From Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
The time between the P- and S-waves is routinely used to determine the distance to their source, the epicenter of the earthquake.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
Mantle rock is generally denser and stronger than crustal rock and both P- and S-waves travel faster through the mantle than they do through the crust.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
On the other hand, the manoeuvre referred to could not be put into execution here because Black can prevent P- R5 by P-QB4 and Kt-B3.
From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont
However, Black can then simply exchange twice on e4 and play P- c5, so that White loses his Pawn center.
From Chess and Checkers : the Way to Mastership by Edward Lasker
Thus P- passed away from amongst the tall spars of ships that he had tried to their utmost in many a spell of boisterous weather.
From The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad
When he states the obvious, the index is there to point this out for the reader: “Naples the Capital City of the Kingdom of Naples, p. 195.”
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2022
Open Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p. m.,
From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2021
The District Court stayed its order pending appellate review on condition that review was sought before 4 p. m.,
From MSNBC ● Jul. 22, 2015
Saturday; help count birds on short, family-friendly strolls through the forest or by the lake with expert birders, 10 a.m., noon and 2 p. m.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2012
Opposite p., left: When the sun is not directly overhead, shadows of equal length are cast.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Several members of the Disney family are clients: Roy P. Disney and his wife, Sheri.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
"An international wanted notice has been issued... for the head of the Telegram administration, P. Durov," it said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Seymour P. Lachman and Robert Polner give Carey his due for cajoling lawmakers, both at the state and the federal levels, into action.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Writing in the Yale Law Journal, Cherneff reconstructed the history of In re Turner, an 1867 decision by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase that helped end the re-enslavement of Black children through involuntary “apprenticeships.”
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
A fact that no one has shared with Axel before, not Ms. Dale or Dr. Martin, not Emmett or even A. P. Brown’s Collection of North American Birds.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
Also on the list are Tito Doble P’s “Acomodo” and Trio Asesino’s self-titled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
After exhausting all of her options, she opened Ms. P’s Child and Family Services in the downtown Washington area to provide services to middle- and low-income families with disabled children.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2025
The Venezuelan journalist Moisés Naím identified the three P’s as the standard playbook of 21st century autocrats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
Kakar says to think of these three P’s when heading to the court.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024
Those who broke the rules to go to Mr. P’s no longer bothered with her.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
“You need to be on your Ps and Qs in both categories,” Snead said, “both variables, right, to earn that type of contract.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2026
He has a rule of Three Ps “is it possible, plausible or probable?” to judge the merits of the argument.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 5, 2026
The designers also introduced their new logo in various forms — two abstract letter Ps combined to form an S — on a black sweater, or as hardware on shoes, belts or bags.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2023
"My list of achievements is longer than my list of regrets," he raps on Rice & Ps.
From BBC ● May 26, 2023
Last night, after studying the tennis photo, she had paged through the Ps in the student sections, searching for James Parker.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
Viewed this way, minding our p’s and q’s is less about proscriptive notions of correctness, and more about mindfulness, self-discovery and proper conduct.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
Being aware of how to mind your p's and q's in each of those places is essential to getting by or possibly moving up in the world.
From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2022
“It was an experience. I had to watch my p’s and q’s. If not, I’d hear about it,” Celebrezze told former Justice Patrick Fischer as part of an oral history project on the court.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 4, 2021
We do this again and again etc., etc. until we have the theoretical distribution of p's.
From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017
“We have to mind our p's and q's,” Grandma reminded us.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
The standard normal distribution in probability, ps, corresponds to μ = 0 and σ = 1.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
And ps, his team didn't beat the Jets this week as much as the Jets beat themselves.
From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2015
For example, because of their lifetimes of about 1.5 ps and their production at the LHC with momenta between a few GeV/c and ~100 GeV/c, mesons travel up to a few centimetres before they decay.
From Nature ● May 12, 2015
Sales came in at $7,898m, vs cons $7,887m and core EPS of $1.50 ps vs consensus €1.47 per share.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2010
System of inducing Electromotive Force in an Aerial, A. B, battery; K, key; I, induction coil; S, spark gap; C, Leyden jar; E, earth plate; ps, oscillation transformer.
From Hertzian Wave Wireless Telegraphy by John Ambrose Fleming
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.
