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  • a
    a
    indefinite article
    not any particular or certain one of a class or group.
  • A
    A
    noun
    the first letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
  • Å
    Å
    angstrom.
  • a'
    a'
    adjective
    all.
  • a-
    a-
    a reduced form of the Old English preposition on, meaning “on,” “in,” “into,” “to,” “toward,” preserved before a noun in a prepositional phrase, forming a predicate adjective or an adverbial element (afoot; abed; ashore; aside; away ), or before an adjective (afar; aloud; alow ), as a moribund prefix with a verb (acknowledge ), and in archaic and dialectal use before a present participle in -ing (set the bells aringing ); and added to a verb stem with the force of a present participle (ablaze; agape; aglow; astride; and originally,awry ).
  • -a
    -a
    a plural ending of nouns borrowed from Greek and Latin.
  • A-
    A-
    atomic (used in combination).
  • a.
    a.
    abbreviation
    year.
  • A.
    A.
    abbreviation
    year.
  • a–
    a–
    A prefix meaning “without” or “not” when forming an adjective (such as amorphous, without form, or atypical, not typical), and “absence of” when forming a noun (such as arrhythmia, absence of rhythm). Before a vowel or h it becomes an– (as in anhydrous, anoxia).
Synonyms

a

1 American  
[uh, ay] / ə, eɪ /

indefinite article

  1. not any particular or certain one of a class or group.

    a man; a chemical; a house.

  2. a certain; a particular.

    one at a time; two of a kind; A Miss Johnson called.

  3. another; one typically resembling.

    a Cicero in eloquence; a Jonah.

  4. one (used before plural nouns that are preceded by a quantifier singular in form): a hundred men (comparehundreds of men ); a dozen times (comparedozens of times ).

  5. indefinitely or nonspecifically (used with adjectives expressing number).

    a great many years; a few stars.

  6. one (used before a noun expressing quantity).

    a yard of ribbon; a score of times.

  7. any; a single.

    not a one.


a 2 American  
[uh, ay] / ə, eɪ /

preposition

  1. each; every; per.

    ten cents a sheet; three times a day.


a 3 American  
[uh] / ə /

preposition

  1. Informal. a reduced, unstressed form of of (often written as part of a single, unhyphenated word).

    cloth a gold; time a day; kinda; sorta.


a 4 American  
[uh] / ə /

auxiliary verb

Informal.
  1. a reduced, unstressed form of auxiliary have following some modals, as might, should, could, would, and must (usually written as part of a single, unhyphenated word).

    We shoulda gone.


a 5 American  
[uh, a, ah] / ə, æ, ɑ /

pronoun

British Dialect.
  1. he.

  2. she.

  3. it.

  4. they.

  5. I.


a 6 American  

abbreviation

Measurements.
  1. are; ares.


A 7 American  
[ay] / eɪ /
Or a

noun

  • A's,
    plural
  • As,
    plural
  • a's,
    plural
  • as
    plural
  1. the first letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.

  2. any spoken sound represented by the letter A or a, as in bake, hat, father, or small.

  3. something having the shape of an A .

  4. a written or printed representation of the letter A or a.

  5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter A or a.


idioms

  1. not know from A to B, to know nothing; be ignorant.

  2. from A to Z, from beginning to end; thoroughly; completely.

    He knows the Bible from A to Z.

A 8 American  

abbreviation

  1. Electricity. ampere; amperes.

  2. Physics. angstrom; angstroms.

  3. answer.

  4. British. arterial (used with a road number to designate a major highway).

    Take the A525 to Ruthin.


A 9 American  
Symbol.
  1. the first in order or in a series.

  2. Sometimes a

    1. (in some grading systems) a grade or mark, as in school or college, indicating the quality of a student's work as excellent or superior.

    2. (in some school systems) a symbol designating the first semester of a school year.

  3. Music.

    1. the sixth tone in the scale of C major or the first tone in the relative minor scale, A minor.

    2. a string, key, or pipe tuned to this tone.

    3. a written or printed note representing this tone.

    4. (in the fixed system of solmization) the sixth tone of the scale of C major, called la.

    5. the tonality having A as the tonic note.

  4. Physiology. a major blood group, usually enabling a person whose blood is of this type to donate blood to persons of group A or AB and to receive blood from persons of O or A.

  5. Sometimes a the medieval Roman numeral for 50 or 500.

  6. Chemistry. (formerly) argon.

  7. Chemistry, Physics. mass number.

  8. Biochemistry.

    1. adenine.

    2. alanine

  9. Logic. Also a universal affirmative.

  10. British. a designation for a motion picture recommended as suitable for adults.

  11. a proportional shoe width size, narrower than B and wider than AA.

  12. a proportional brassiere cup size, smaller than B and larger than AA.

  13. a quality rating for a corporate or municipal bond, lower than AA and higher than BBB.


Å 10 American  
Symbol, Physics.
  1. angstrom.


a' 11 American  
[ah, aw] / ɑ, ɔ /
Or a

adjective

Scots
  1. all.

    for a' that.


a- 12 American  
  1. a reduced form of the Old English preposition on, meaning “on,” “in,” “into,” “to,” “toward,” preserved before a noun in a prepositional phrase, forming a predicate adjective or an adverbial element (afoot; abed; ashore; aside; away ), or before an adjective (afar; aloud; alow ), as a moribund prefix with a verb (acknowledge ), and in archaic and dialectal use before a present participle in -ing (set the bells aringing ); and added to a verb stem with the force of a present participle (ablaze; agape; aglow; astride; and originally,awry ).


a- 13 American  
  1. a reduced form of the Old English preposition of: akin; afresh; anew.


a- 14 American  
  1. an old point-action prefix, not referring to an act as a whole, but only to the beginning or end: She arose (rose up). They abided by their beliefs (remained faithful to the end).


a- 15 American  
  1. variant of ab- before p and v: aperient; avert.


a- 16 American  
  1. variant of ad-, used: (1) before sc, sp, st (ascend ) and (2) in words of French derivation (often with the sense of increase, addition).

    amass.


a- 17 American  
  1. variant of an- before a consonant, meaning “not,” “without”.

    amoral; atonal; achromatic.


-a 18 American  
  1. a plural ending of nouns borrowed from Greek and Latin.

    phenomena; criteria; data; errata; genera.


-a 19 American  
  1. a feminine singular ending of nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek, also used in New Latin coinages to Latinize bases of any origin, and as a Latin substitute for the feminine ending - ē of Greek words: cinchona;

    anabaena;

    cinchona;

    pachysandra.


-a 20 American  
  1. an ending of personal names forming feminines from masculines.

    Georgia; Roberta.


-a 21 American  
  1. a suffix designating the oxide of the chemical element denoted by the stem.

    alumina; ceria; thoria.


A- 22 American  
  1. atomic (used in combination).

    A-bomb; A-plant.


a. 23 American  

abbreviation

  1. year.


a. 24 American  

abbreviation

  1. before.


a. 25 American  

abbreviation

  1. about.

  2. acre; acres.

  3. active.

  4. adjective.

  5. alto.

  6. ampere; amperes.

  7. anonymous.

  8. answer.

  9. are; ares.

  10. Baseball. assist; assists.


A. 26 American  

abbreviation

  1. year.


A. 27 American  

abbreviation

  1. before.


A. 28 American  

abbreviation

  1. Absolute.

  2. Academy.

  3. acre; acres.

  4. America.

  5. American.

  6. angstrom.

  7. answer.

  8. April.

  9. Artillery.


A 1 British  

symbol

  1. music

    1. a note having a frequency of 440 hertz ( A above middle C ) or this value multiplied or divided by any power of 2; the sixth note of the scale of C major

    2. a key, string, or pipe producing this note

    3. the major or minor key having this note as its tonic

  2. a human blood type of the ABO group, containing the A antigen

  3. (in Britain) a major arterial road

    the A3 runs from London to Portsmouth

    1. a film certified for viewing by anyone, but which contains material that some parents may not wish their children to see

    2. ( as modifier )

      an A film

  4. mass number

  5. the number 10 in hexadecimal notation

  6. cards ace

  7. chem argon (now superseded by Ar )

  8. ampere(s)

  9. Also: at. ampere-turn

  10. absolute (temperature)

  11. (in circuit diagrams) ammeter

  12. area

  13. (in combination) atomic

    an A-bomb

    an A-plant

  14. chem affinity

  15. biochem adenine

  16. logic a universal affirmative categorical proposition, such as all men are mortal: often symbolized as SaP Compare E I 2 O 1

    1. a person whose job is in top management, or who holds a senior administrative or professional position

    2. ( as modifier ) See also occupation groupings

      an A worker

"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

abbreviation

  1. Austria (international car registration)

"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
a 2 British  
/ ə, eɪ /

determiner

  1. used preceding a singular countable noun, if the noun is not previously specified or known

    a dog

    a terrible disappointment

  2. used preceding a proper noun to indicate that a person or thing has some of the qualities of the one named

    a Romeo

    a Shylock

  3. used preceding a noun or determiner of quantity

    a cupful

    a dozen eggs

    a great many

    to read a lot

  4. used preceding a noun indicating a concrete or abstract thing capable of being divided

    half a loaf

    a quarter of a minute

  5. each or every; per

    once a day

    fifty pence a pound

  6. a certain; one

    to change policy at a stroke

    a Mr Jones called

  7. (preceded by not) any at all

    not a hope

"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

a 3 British  

symbol

  1. acceleration

  2. are(s) (metric measure of land)

  3. atto-

  4. chess See algebraic notation

"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

a 4 British  
/ eɪ /

noun

  1. the first letter and first vowel of the modern English alphabet

  2. any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in take, bag, calm, shortage, or cobra

  3. Also called: alpha. the first in a series, esp the highest grade or mark, as in an examination

  4. from start to finish, thoroughly and in detail

"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

A. 5 British  

abbreviation

  1. acre(s) or acreage

  2. America(n)

  3. answer

"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

a- 6 British  

prefix

  1. on; in; towards

    afoot

    abed

    aground

    aback

  2. literary (used before a present participle) in the act or process of

    come a-running

    go a-hunting

  3. in the condition or state of

    afloat

    alive

    asleep

"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

Å 7 British  

symbol

  1. angstrom unit

"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

a- 8 British  

prefix

  1. not; without; opposite to

    atonal

    asocial

"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

a 9 British  
/ ə /

verb

  1. an informal or dialect word for have

    they'd a said if they'd known

"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

a 10 British  
/ ə /

preposition

  1. (usually linked to the preceding noun) an informal form of of

    sorta sad

    a kinda waste

"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

a' 11 British  
/ ɔː /

determiner

  1. variants of all

"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

A 1 Scientific  
  1. Abbreviation of adenine, ampere, angstrom, area


Å 2 Scientific  
  1. Abbreviation of angstrom


a– 3 Scientific  
  1. A prefix meaning “without” or “not” when forming an adjective (such as amorphous, without form, or atypical, not typical), and “absence of” when forming a noun (such as arrhythmia, absence of rhythm). Before a vowel or h it becomes an– (as in anhydrous, anoxia).


Grammar

In both spoken and written English the choice of a1 or an 1 is determined by the initial sound of the word that follows. Before a consonant sound, a is used; before a vowel sound, an : a book, a rose; an apple, an opera. Problems arise occasionally when the following word begins with a vowel letter but actually starts with a consonant sound, or vice versa. Some words beginning with the vowel letter u and all words beginning with the vowel letters eu are pronounced with a beginning consonant sound, as if the first letter were y : a union; a European. Some other spellings that begin with a vowel letter may also stand for an initial consonant sound: a ewe; a ewer. The words one and once and all compounds of which they are the first element begin with a w sound: a one-room apartment; a once-famous actor. The names of the consonant letters f, h, l, m, n, r, s, and x are pronounced with a beginning vowel sound. When these letters are used as words or to form words, they are preceded by an : to rent an L-shaped studio; to fly an SST. The names of the vowel letter u and the semivowel letters w and y are pronounced with a beginning consonant sound. When used as words, they are preceded by a : a U-turn; The plumber installed a Y in the line. In some words beginning with the letter h, the h is not pronounced; the words actually begin with a vowel sound: an hour; an honor. When the h is strongly pronounced, as in a stressed syllable at the beginning of a word, it is preceded by a : a history of the Sioux; a hero sandwich. (In former times an was used before strongly pronounced h in a stressed first syllable: an hundred. ) Such adjectives as historic, historical, heroic, and habitual, which begin with an unstressed syllable and often with a silent or weakly pronounced h, are commonly preceded by an, especially in British English. But the use of a rather than an is widespread in both speech and writing: a historical novel; a habitual criminal. Hotel and unique are occasionally preceded by an, but this use is increasingly old-fashioned. Although in some dialects an has yielded to a in all cases, edited writing reflects usage as described above.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of a1

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English; originally preconsonantal phonetic variant of an 1

Origin of a2

Originally Middle English a, preconsonantal variant of on ( a- 1 ); confused with a 1

Origin of a3

Middle English; unstressed preconsonantal variant of of 1

Origin of a4

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; a phonetic variant of have

Origin of a5

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English a, ha

Origin of a-12

Middle English, late Old English; cf. a 2, nowadays

Origin of a-13

Middle English; see a 3

Origin of a-14

Middle English; Old English a- (unstressed), ǣ-, ā-, ō- (stressed; see abb, woof 1, oakum), rarely or- ( see ordeal), ultimately from unattested Germanic uz- from unstressed Indo-European uss-, from ud-s (these latter two also unattested), akin to out; in some cases confused with a- 4, as in abridge

Origin of a-15

Middle English < Latin ā-, a- (variant of ab- ab- ); in some words < French a- < Latin ab-, as in abridge

Origin of a-16

Middle English, in some words < Middle French a- < Latin ad- prefix or ad preposition ( ad- ), as in abut; in others < Latin a- (variant of ad- ad- ), as in ascend

Origin of -a20

From Latin feminine ending -a, as Claudia, feminine of Claudius; see -a 2

Origin of -a21

Probably generalized from the -a of magnesia

Origin of a.23

< Latin annō, ablative of annus

Origin of a.24

From the Latin word ante

Origin of A.26

< Latin annō, ablative of annus

Origin of A.27

From the Latin word ante


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:

“We believe in two things: that everybody’s capable and that we belong to each other. That’s been our message for 40 years and it’s a message for the modern Olympiad too.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

Now some of them will get a chance to manufacture and sell Olympic-branded merchandise.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

The group performed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where the four members were students when they first got together as a band in 1976.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

Nick Andrews, whose social media persona is the Boston Card Hunter, is keeping track of items reported stolen, a number that had exceeded 1,000 by Tuesday morning.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

There is no evidence of her past life as a spy, wife, mother, or leprosy patient.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

A Miami real estate magnate purchased the autographed road jersey, which Jordan wore during Game 2 of the 1988 Finals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

A nice contrast to the other two, especially with good sourdough alongside.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

A South African woman has been killed in a shark attack off the country's east coast, in what is the first recorded such fatality this year.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

A Blue Owl investor and an annuity owner can end up financing the same kind of loan.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

A cut or break in the skin lets staph and strep bacteria colonize the warm, wet, nutrient-rich cells inside.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

In the new study, the research team employed state-of-the-art cryo-electron microscopy techniques to capture nine different states associated with the lipid transport and determine structures at 2.4 to 3.1 Å resolution for these states.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2023

Danish, an often staccato language spoken by only about six million people and whose alphabet includes the letters Æ, Ø and Å, is perhaps an unlikely choice for pop’s next lingua franca.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2023

Note: The length unit angstrom, Å, is often used to represent atomic-scale dimensions and is equivalent to 10−10 m.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

At the first epoch, all deviations from the blackbody spectrum are below about 10% in the range 3,500 Å–20,000 Å, indicating that the fit is very satisfactory.

From Nature ● Oct. 15, 2017

The exposed oxygen atoms were terminated as surface silanol groups, and 30 Å vacuum space was added to the b-axis direction.

From Nature ● Mar. 14, 2017

Some songs—such as “A Guid New Year to ane a’ A’”—were widely recognized.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 27, 2023

The Scottish government agreed with a recommendation by Sepa which allows Scottish Water to increase abstraction levels from the Allt a' Mhuilinn burn.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2023

Whether all this adds up to some big change a’ coming to City Hall, it’s too soon to say.

From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2023

This masterpiece presents a dachshund with multiple paws a’ flapping looking somewhat between a well-oiled machine and progress itself, as it purposefully walks down the street.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 14, 2018

“Oh lord, Sierra, really? Everybody has a little gut, and plenty a’ dudes go crazy for ’em.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older

And Robert Heath was sort of a- adventurous entrepreneur of a neurologist and psychiatrist.

From Scientific American ● May 4, 2023

That giant thing of spices that looks like a-

From Salon ● Mar. 30, 2019

Average sizes are about 2.0 μm and 1.2 μm along the a- and c-axes, respectively. b, AFM height image and height profiles for the MFI nanosheets.

From Nature ● Mar. 14, 2017

The Israeli grandmaster plays the positional side of a Benko Gambit to perfection, building up great pressure on the a- and b-files while the great Benko bishop strafes the White position from g7.

From Washington Times ● May 12, 2015

"Well, don't do it again. Understand? Not at night There's enough silly talk about beasts, without the litthlus seeing you gliding about like a-" The derisive laughter that rose had fear in it and condemnation.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

Usually words ending in "-o" are masculine and those ending in "-a" are feminine, but there are many common words that break those gender rules, like "la mano," the word for "hand."

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2022

In person, you do things like a basic fitness test -a bleep test - but you don't need qualifications.

From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2022

He needs to grow up or get out -a cancer in the locker room.

From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2017

But this much you can be sure of -a victory at that level of competition is truly a net positive for months, perhaps years, ahead.

From Washington Times ● May 25, 2016

Then from the north -beyond the torrent of ice that blocked the trail, behind the clouds that hid the Mountain of the World Spirit -a wolf howled.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

At the University of Michigan, a review by the news site MLive found that 74.1% of all undergraduate grades in 2022 were an A+, A or A-.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

"The All Blacks are a classy outfit, and they'll punish you if you're not on your A- game, and at times we weren't," admitted Irish skipper Dan Sheehan.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

The difference between an A- and an A+, according to the report, could depend on how much spring precipitation the region receives.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2024

Normally it’s sort of fun to count the A- , B-, and Z-listers shilling for mayonnaise and sneakers.

From Slate ● Feb. 12, 2024

I charged a dollar per assignment and guaranteed at least an A- or the customer was entitled to a full refund.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Find the derivative of the equation in a. and explain its physical meaning.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

Use a. to find the rate at which the volume is changing at t = 1 min.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

For the following exercises, a. find the inverse function, and b. find the domain and range of the inverse function.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

Evaluate a. and b. for t = 2, 4, and 6 seconds.

From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016

When we got there, Grandma was out in the yard, standing over a. thing made out of lumber in the shape of a teepee.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

Rolander is a research engineer in the Fabrication Lab at the Harold A. Miller Library at Hopkins Marine Station, which belongs to the Doerr School of Sustainability.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026

“Even with respectable ancillary income based on the film’s pedigree, the movie is going to lose a lot of money,” David A. Gross wrote in his FranchiseRe movie industry newsletter shortly after the film’s opening.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

Plus, Ray A. Smith on the ‘Sunday scaries.’

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

The film triumphed despite poor reviews and audience reception, according to analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026

She cannot recall telling Mr. A. H— which train it was she would be taking, but he has deposited her on the proper platform nonetheless.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

You know, that’s actually the easiest of all things, if you look, cause it’s such a–

From Slate ● Jan. 22, 2020

The montage ends with a honest rap from Issa: “I don’t want to be here, but my ex won’t take me back. So my broken a– is here, small-talking over apps.”

From Washington Post ● Jul. 28, 2017

We created a– civilian review board, gave them their own detectives.

From Time ● Jan. 17, 2016

MELBER: Now your path here– involved time as a– as a lawyer and a prosecutor. 

From MSNBC ● Feb. 12, 2015

But whatever happens, you’ll 240 believe I’ve done my best, won’t you?–even if I’m not a– Promise me straight, you’ll lock up tight every night.”

From Into the Primitive by Robert Ames Bennett

She was shocked in July when she saw a much larger portion of students than she’d expected hadn’t passed the AP test, including kids who had been getting A’s and B’s in class.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Other parents’ choices didn’t cause Najya’s teachers to leave assignments uncorrected, lower expectations, or award A’s for below-grade work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

“All achievements — straight A’s at the time — anything that could be rewarded was pooled to funds,” he said, reclining on a patio chair in the shade at Chargers headquarters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

With A’s on his report card and the energy and determination to never stop improving, Benson is headed on a path that could take him in many different directions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

On the next exam I scored a B, and by the end of the semester I was pulling A’s.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

As for the movie, I still favor familiar fall classics like “Hocus Pocus” or “Coraline.”

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

As a BBC user, you are going to hear much more about cuts in the coming months.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

As the first “Magnificent Seven” company to report earnings, Meta will set the tone for the other Big Tech companies that are investing heavily in AI.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026

As he told The Times last year, multiple chefs and restaurateurs expressed interest in purchasing Cole’s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

As she smiled, she tasted the distinct warm, soft sweetness of SJ’s frybread and couldn’t wait to return so that she could get more practice, company, and, of course, more food.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Like other Romance languages, Spanish divides most endings of nouns into masculine o’s or feminine a’s.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 12, 2021

And then, every fourth January, we’re suddenly expected to say it, to spell it, to know where to place the u’s and a’s.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2017

It kept reading my a's as g's or u's, my b's as d's and sprinkling periods liberally throughout my text.

From Time Magazine Archive

But there is no doubt who is the original source of the line, and his last name is spelled with two a's.

From Time Magazine Archive

He turned red, thinking of his trouble with long a’s, th’s, l’s, consonants at the ends of words.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

The massive merchandising push around the 2028 Summer Olympics will also include global brands such as Nike and Ralph Lauren.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

It’s the perfect example of how movies can make something as intangible as love go on forever.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

New scenes from The Jolly Boys' Outing include an extended look at the coach trip to Margate as well as the entire footage of the group's rollercoaster ride at Dreamland from the 1989 Christmas episode.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

Los Angeles is the home to more venues than any other city and whose government serves as a financial guarantor of the Games.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

Joey prays and prepares herself as best she can.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

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