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URL

American  

abbreviation

Computers.
  1. Uniform Resource Locator: a protocol for specifying addresses on the internet.

  2. an address that identifies a particular file on the internet, usually consisting of the protocol, as http, followed by the domain name.


URL British  

abbreviation

  1. uniform resource locator; a standardized address of a location on the internet, esp on the World Wide Web

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

URL Scientific  
/ yo̅o̅′är-ĕl /
  1. Short for Uniform Resource Locator. An Internet address (for example, http://www.hmco.com/trade/), usually consisting of the access protocol (http), the domain name (www.hmco.com), and optionally the path to a file or resource residing on that server (trade).


URL Cultural  
  1. An abbreviation for U niversal R esource L ocator, a title that refers to the formal address of a document on the Internet.


Etymology

Origin of URL

First recorded in 1990–95

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.

On Feb. 18, Ms. Russell replied: “Reminder that you can search over 250k news articles for AI slop at . . .” followed by the URL of the Maryland study’s database.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

The URL took young readers to extra content for the series until the website's content was switched.

From BBC • Oct. 9, 2025

Typosquatting is when domain names on the URL have a small variation from the legitimate one, Manky said.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2025

On the new computer, I typed the URL Cathy provided me into the browser.

From Slate • Aug. 4, 2025

Then I disable my browser’s history, and type in the URL with trembling fingers.

From "Legend" by Marie Lu