abacus
Americannoun
plural
abacuses, abaci-
a device for making arithmetic calculations, consisting of a frame set with rods on which balls or beads are moved.
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Architecture. a slab forming the top of the capital of a column.
noun
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a counting device that consists of a frame holding rods on which a specific number of beads are free to move. Each rod designates a given denomination, such as units, tens, hundreds, etc, in the decimal system, and each bead represents a digit or a specific number of digits
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architect the flat upper part of the capital of a column
Etymology
Origin of abacus
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin: board, counting board, re-formed < Greek ábax
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.
Calculators, cars and probably candles and the abacus were considered a menace to society.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 7, 2025
For example, you can add numbers perfectly using an abacus, in which wooden beads are pushed back and forth to represent arithmetic operations.
From Science Daily • Oct. 30, 2023
You can put away the abacus for this year though.
From BBC • Dec. 9, 2022
Thus many of her pieces, like earrings with lines of delicately strung freshwater pearls that resemble an abacus, are made entirely in house.
From New York Times • Apr. 14, 2022
By around 300 BC the Babylonians had started using two slanted wedges to represent an empty space, an empty column on the abacus.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
