Ab
noun
Av.
Ab
1 American
[ahb, ahv]
/ ɑb, ɑv /
noun
AB
3
American
abbreviation
-
Nautical. able seaman.
-
U.S. Air Force. Airman Basic.
-
Alberta, Canada (approved for postal use).
-
antiballistic; antiballistic missile.
AB
4
American
Symbol, Physiology.
ab-
5
American
ab.
6
American
abbreviation
-
about.
-
Baseball. (times) at bat.
A.B.
7
American
abbreviation
A.B.
8
American
AB
1
British
abbreviation
-
Also: a.b.. able-bodied seaman
-
(in the US) Bachelor of Arts
-
(esp in postal addresses) Alberta (Canada)
symbol
Ab
2
British
/ æb /
noun
ab-
3
British
prefix
ab-
4
British
prefix
Etymology
Origin of ab-5
< Latin ab (preposition and prefix) from, away, cognate with Greek apó, Sanskrit ápa, German ab, English of 1, off
Origin of A.B.7
< New Latin, Medieval Latin Artium Baccalaureus
Explanation
An ab is a stomach, or abdominal, muscle. Doing sit ups and crunches will help you tone your abs. Ab is shorthand for abdominal, which comes from the Latin abdomen, "belly," and it's a common name for what's formally known as the rectus abdominus muscle. Your abs run up and down the front of your torso, on either side of your belly button. In extremely fit or muscly people with little body fat, you can actually see how the abs are separated into several sections, the so-called "six-pack."
Vocabulary lists containing ab
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 planet, known as Epsilon Indi Ab, is similar to Jupiter, yet its atmosphere appears more complex than expected.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 2026
The testosterone-based view of Ab Ex is entrenched, but recent scholarship has focused attention elsewhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 28, 2026
So it felt like Ab to Abby was a very cute jump.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2025
Mr Abdallah, who lost his brother, said Ab Shouk camp’s Al Saalam School was now doubling as a shelter for those who had recently lost their homes.
From BBC ● May 23, 2024
We don’t have Ab Sheehan here, do we?
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
Paul Powers, chief executive of Physna, a company whose technology could be used to block gun parts on 3-D printers, said the strongest criticisms of AB 2047 “misunderstand how the software works.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Volvo AB beat consensus expectations for sales and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes by 1% and 2%, respectively, the analyst adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
“The results of AB 66 and this first phase go beyond my wildest imaginations,” said Boerner, who hopes this proof of concept lays the groundwork for a future statewide alert system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
AB Foods shareholders will hold shares in both companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Any AB and NAB naturals out there who want to share their regimen?
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
It is altogether too easy to allow one's sense of the ab- surdity of a good many of its episodes to cloud one's perception of the beauty underlying them.
From Time Magazine Archive
And, ere the first The skates were Of their brief ab- Was left within the faint gleam of day, safely stowed away; sence not a trace dusty place.
From The Brownies: Their Book by Palmer Cox
It appears as a-, ab-, ac-, ad-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, ar-, as-, at-, as in achieve, abbreviate, accede, admire, affix, aggregate, allot, annex, approve, arrive, assign, attract.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
I demand an ab- solute knowledge of the then present; I demand a knowledge of the constitution of the human mind— of the facts in nature, and that is all I demand.
From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 5 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Discussions by Robert Green Ingersoll
God had been graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab- 107:6 solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.
From Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
In the third edition it was reprinted at the end of the Stans puer ad Mensam by Wynkin de Worde ab. 1501-1510.
From Caxton's Book of Curtesye by Frederick James Furnivall
"Our focus is on crop improvement, pest and disease surveillance, soil management, capacity building, and technology transfer related to cardamom," says A.B.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2025
“We’re in our toddler, young juvenile phase, of trying to navigate things with the industry,” said Felicia A.B.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
The great Andre Braugher was originally cast as the character A.B.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2025
The game involved a professional boxer, identified only as A.B.,
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2025
He planned to complete work for an A.B. degree and then enter law school.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
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.
