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:
Using JWST's mid infrared instrument MIRI, the team directly imaged Epsilon Indi Ab.
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
The Taliban’s Transportation and Civil Aviation Ministry said in an online statement the plane was found in the district of Kuf Ab district, near the Aruz Koh mountain.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
Tanks, says Ab, my uncle.Tanks, tanks, tanks, and it’s hard to keep up with him on the streets bad as his leg is.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
A fifth conviction, under AB 1546, would be charged as a felony and result in a sentence of up to three years in prison if convicted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Co-author David Mataix-Cols states that he has received author's fees from UpToDate Inc and that he is a partner in Scandinavian E-Health AB, which is unrelated to the publication.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
SYDNEY—EQT’s EQT -1.35%decrease; down pointing triangle AB pursuit of Perpetual looks over after the Australian investment manager rejected its US$2.6 billion takeover proposal and said it had stopped engaging with the Swedish private-equity provider.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
The MAL story also illustrates how much complexity is hidden behind the familiar letters A, B, AB and O.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
A friend of a friend, a cool AB with tons of money, is writing a book called Traveling While Black.
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
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
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
To find whether a wanted word in ab- occurs in this glossary, it was necessary to look through more than two columns containing ninety-five entries.
From The evolution of English lexicography by James Augustus Henry Murray
Falsten holds little communication with any of us, but remains ab- sorbed in his calculations, and amuses himself by tracing mechanical diagrams with ground-plan, section, elevation, all complete.
From The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne
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
“There was no theft by Suzette. Suzette has not stolen, misappropriated, or improperly taken money or property belonging to A.B., Abraham, Chris, Selena’s estate or any family-owned or jointly owned business,” read the statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
"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
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.
