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:
The SEC yield is based on a Securities and Exchange Commission formula, which you can view in detail on p.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
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
The predictive approach centers on measuring p tau217, a protein found in plasma, the liquid component of blood.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026
"It's political with a small p - there's enough that roots us in the real world but the world is too complicated to link it directly and I think it would be inappropriate."
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
"P, p, p," Sam sounded in a whisper.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
“It was ‘art’—theater and absurd all at the same time,” recalls Susan P.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 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
Although Laija García hasn’t shied away from embracing that familial tie either; in May, both Tito Double P and Peso Pluma concluded their “Dinastía” tour following their joint 2025 album of the same name.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
There is no B and V for us, no P and F. I always thought someone must have invented certain words to torture us.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
“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
Who would not give all else for two p- ennyworth only of beautiful soup!
From Songs From Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
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
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
It is therefore necessary to play P- QB3 first.
From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont
The beginner, in his haste to advance the Pawn, will probably play P- e5 at once and lose the Pawn, as Black can answer Q-d4 check with simultaneous attack on the Pawn.
From Chess and Checkers : the Way to Mastership by Edward Lasker
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
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
SAT City of Seattle, Belltown Business Association, Belltown Chamber of Commerce clean up downtown Seattle project, coffee and instructions 9:30 a.m., work 10 a.m.-2 p. m.
From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2012
Opposite p., left: When the sun is not directly overhead, shadows of equal length are cast.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
“We want to give our brokers, and therefore our consumers, the ability to get the best of whatever is available to them,” said Desmond P. Smith, chief growth officer at UWM.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Dr. Martin said researchers had already recognized that the Drimolen population of P. robustus was distinctive enough to receive a separate subspecies designation, P. Robustus ukusa.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
The name was technically an Easter egg: Pasqually P. Pieplate is the chef in Chuck E. Cheese’s animatronic house band.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
Myra P. Saefong explained how we all pay when diesel prices rise.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
When we’re done, Coach P. starts us doing sprints and dribbling drills, then we line up to make baskets.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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
“I was like, ‘This is going to be a 10-minute phone call, check my background, P’s and Q’s, whatever,’” UW director of social media Hadley Heck recalls of her job interview last summer.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2023
Then he sits down on Dr. P’s front steps.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
He can’t recall when or from whom he first heard the phrase, but ever since, the Five Ps have stuck with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
You need the three Ps: patience, paperwork and perseverance.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Two Ps for you; Marco Penge and John Parry venture onto the PGA Tour for the first time as members in 2026.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 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 Bs looked like Ps and I couldn’t make my Os rounder than a dried up pea.
From "Worth" by A. LaFaye
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
We do this again and again etc., etc. until we have the theoretical distribution of p's.
From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017
In one message, he misspelled “tap” with two p’s!
From Washington Times ● Mar. 21, 2017
In no time the house smelled like spaghetti and fish sticks, instead of the chewy and mushy three p's Clayton’s mother left for them: pork chops, peas, and potatoes.
From "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground" by Rita Williams-Garcia
In the early months after Goldberg’s death, Sandberg says she made the three classic mistakes – “the three ps – personalisation, pervasiveness and permanence”.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 16, 2017
The standard normal distribution in probability, ps, corresponds to μ = 0 and σ = 1.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
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
There is a lengthy profile of Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy that describes his friendshi ps with Marina Abramovic and Courtney Love.
From New York Times ● Aug. 13, 2010
In the Greek lettering the reversal is complete, but in English characters the "ps" is two letters instead of one, and when read backwards becomes "sp."
From Proverb Lore Many sayings, wise or otherwise, on many subjects, gleaned from many sources by F. Edward (Frederick Edward) Hulme
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
