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:
Based on its properties, Epsilon Indi Ab was expected to contain large amounts of ammonia gas as well, but not ammonia clouds.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 2026
Some flirted only briefly with Ab Ex ideas before moving on.
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
Next came old Ab Pulliam in his goat cart, the pants of his gray uniform folded under his thigh stubs.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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
The decline of McClatchy, with its roots in California’s Gold Rush era, speaks to the larger challenges facing the news industry — and the reason AB 2222 was written.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 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
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
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
When first I doffed my olive drab, I thought, delightedly though mutely, "Henceforth I shall have pleasure ab- Solutely."
From Something Else Again by Franklin P. (Franklin Pierce) Adams
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
With A.B. on bass, Suzette on drums and Selena as the tender vocalist, the trio would often perform at the family restaurant, PapaGayo’s, which later closed following the 1981 recession.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2025
"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
Besides Park and the victim, the White House’s chief usher A.B.
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
