Q
noun
the 17th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
Q
1 American
[kyoo]
/ kju /
Or
q
noun
-
Q's,
plural
-
Qs,
plural
-
q's,
plural
-
qs
plural
-
the 17th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
-
any spoken sound represented by the letter Q or q, as in quick, acquit, or Iraq.
-
something having the shape of a Q .
-
a written or printed representation of the letter Q or q.
-
a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter Q or q.
Q
2
American
Q
3
American
Symbol.
-
the 17th in order or in a series.
-
(sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 500.
-
Biochemistry. glutamine.
-
Physics. heat.
-
Thermodynamics. a unit of heat energy, equal to 10 18 British thermal units (1.055 × 10 21 joules).
-
Also called Q-factor. Electronics. the ratio of the reactance to the resistance of an electric circuit or component.
-
Biblical Criticism. the symbol for material common to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that was not derived from the Gospel of Mark.
q.
4
American
abbreviation
q.
5
American
abbreviation
-
quart; quarts.
-
query.
-
question.
-
quintal.
-
quire.
Q.
6
American
abbreviation
-
quarto.
-
Quebec.
-
Queen.
-
question.
-
(in Guatemala) quetzal; quetzals.
Q
1
British
symbol
-
chess queen
-
question
-
physics heat
abbreviation
Q.
2
British
abbreviation
-
quartermaster
-
Also: q. quarto
-
Queen
-
question
q.
3
British
abbreviation
-
quart
-
quarter
-
quarterly
q
4
British
/ kjuː /
noun
-
the 17th letter and 13th consonant of the modern English alphabet
-
a speech sound represented by this letter, in English usually a voiceless velar stop, as in unique and quick
q
5
British
symbol
q
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of q.
From the Latin word quadrāns
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:
“It’s amazing when the audience, whether it’s during a Q and A or during a interactive part of the show, gets a chance to express what these shows have meant to them,” Levy said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
And the oldest restaurant in London, Rules in Covent Garden, also featured in Spectre, hosting M, Q and Moneypenny.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
Q: How is AI changing these types of attacks?
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Q: Can you help me understand the difference between the 30-day SEC yield and the trailing 12-month distribution yield?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
OMNICTIONARIAN96: Q, tomorrow and the next day and the day after that and all the days for the rest of my life, I am happy to participate in your investigation.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
Thus, since 1943 the recognized subspecies of E. quadrivittatus have been: E. q. quadrivittatus, E. q. hopiensis, E. q. inyoensis, E. q. nevadensis, E. q. umbrinus, and E. q. adsitus.
From Taxonomy of the Chipmunks, Eutamias quadrivittatus and Eutamias umbrinus by John A. White
Frondescence of the petals has been observed most frequently in the following cases; some, perhaps, were cases merely of virescence, q. v.; see also under Chloranthy, Prolification.
From Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants by Maxwell T. Masters
Bacula of E. q. hopiensis from northeastern Arizona are like those in typical E. q. quadrivittatus.
From The Baculum in the Chipmunks of Western North America by John A. White
Utah, are typical E. q. hopiensis and the bacula of these specimens are considerably smaller than those of specimens of typical E. q. quadrivittatus.
From The Baculum in the Chipmunks of Western North America by John A. White
Shaw's—Borax, 3 ozs.; orange shellac, 5 ozs.; water, q. s.; boil and add soluble aniline black or nigrosine, q. s.
Q. How many chicken coops are there in your house?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Most notably, he fired General Charles Q. Brown, the military’s highest-ranking Black officer.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
Roger Q. Mason’s “Califas Trilogy” dives into the meltdown of myth and the possibility of repair among ruins.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the fired Joint Chiefs chairman, is the second Black general to serve in the role.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2025
Lee’s forefinger hung over a bean for a moment and then slowly fell and pushed it to make the 0 into a Q. He knew she was looking at him.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
The Fed Board in Washington oversees supervision of large regional banks like SVB, and Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr is undertaking a review of what went wrong to be published on May q.
From Reuters ● Apr. 12, 2023
The letters q, p, d and b are all shaped identically but rotated, and some have argued serifs make them easier to identify.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2023
Write an expression for the electric field E along the x-axis as a function of position x in the region between objects S and T in terms of q, d, and fundamental constants, as appropriate.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
The magnitude of the electric force F exerted on an object with electric charge q by an electric field F= qE.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
It has the letter q carved on each side in faded red.
From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass
There are also three nominations each for the Netflix crime drama Dept Q and BBC comedy Dinosaur while Dept Q's Leah Byrne also received an Audience Award nomination.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Q’s posts also stopped, leaving many followers adrift.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2025
“It’s a Ugly Come Up” is so feral, so brazenly uninhibited, that Schoolboy Q’s “Blue Lips” seems almost family-friendly by comparison.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2024
Q’s gaze hovers above the audience, but she is not talking to us.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
But my cousins don’t move until they’re sure that Q’s car has turned the corner and driven several blocks out of the neighborhood.
From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi
Here, he takes an opportunity to respond publicly to a few Qs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
"So we can inform the young people to 'be on your Ps and Qs, dress smart, walk well, stay in safe spaces, stay seen."
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2025
Since the doors to the theater first swung open, it’d been made clear that everyone needed to mind their Ps and Qs.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2023
“The point of a code is to set consistent expectations for how justices will behave & the norms of ethical conduct. These types of articles raise Qs a code could answer,” the group tweeted.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
There were the scions of Nigerian aristocrats in their business suits giving dap to bald-headed Qs in purple windbreakers and tan Timbs.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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
For parents worried that virtual assistants are encouraging bad manners in children, it’ll be a good way to prod the little ones to remember their p’s and q’s.
From The Verge ● Nov. 29, 2018
"That's the biggest adjustment. It makes me lock in defensively. I know I have to be on my p's and q's."
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2018
Getting sense my q's today went over ppls heads - maybe going fwd I shouldn’t stay up late watching @Dbacks games...
From Time ● Jun. 8, 2017
She snaps back, “Now, you just mind your own p’s and q’s there!”
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
E-Mili 1st 3 qs wasted but 4th was a vg one.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2013
After the camera pans to the board – which has the words 'shaqattack', 'shaqalici', 'shaquesque' and, yes, 'shaqfu' on it – Shaq is asked: "How do you get so many qs?"
From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2012
Today's playgoers are not so likely to be put off by Cock-A-Doodle Dan dy's zany unconcern with sequiturs, probabilities or dramatic ps and qs.
From Time Magazine Archive
Diana is closeted in Clarence House, the residence of the Queen Mother, getting a cram course in monarchical ps and qs.
From Time Magazine Archive
For instance, there were twenty ss, and only two qs.
From The Adventures of Bobby Orde by Worth Brehm
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