ad
noun
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ad
1 American
[ad]
/ æd /
ad
2
American
[ad]
/ æd /
noun
Tennis.
-
ad in, the advantage being scored by the server.
-
ad out, the advantage being scored by the receiver.
ad
3
American
[ad]
/ æd /
preposition
ad-
4
American
-ad
5
American
-
a suffix occurring in loanwords from Greek denoting a group or unit comprising a certain number, sometimes of years: dyad; triad .
-
a suffix meaning “derived from,” “related to,” “concerned with,” “associated with” (oread ), introduced in loanwords from Greek (Olympiad; oread ), used sporadically in imitation of Greek models, as Dunciad , after Iliad .
-ad
6
American
-ad
7
American
ad.
8
American
abbreviation
-
adverb.
-
advertisement.
a.d.
9
American
Or
A.D.
abbreviation
a.d.
10
American
abbreviation
a.d.
11
American
abbreviation
-
after date.
-
autograph document.
A.D.
12
American
AD
1
British
abbreviation
-
anno Domini Compare BC
70 ad
-
military active duty
-
military air defence
-
Dame of the Order of Australia
-ad
2
British
suffix
-
a group or unit (having so many parts or members)
triad
-
an epic poem concerning (the subject indicated by the stem)
Dunciad
ad-
3
British
prefix
-
to; towards
adsorb
adverb
-
near; next to
adrenal
-ad
4
British
suffix
ad
5
British
/ æd /
noun
ad
6
British
/ æd /
noun
ad
7
British
abbreviation
Usage
Because anno Domini means “in the year of the Lord,” its abbreviation a.d. was originally placed before rather than after a date: The Roman conquest of Britain began in a.d. 43 (or began a.d. 43). In edited writing, it is still usually placed before the date. But, by analogy with the position of b.c. “before Christ,” which always appears after a date ( Caesar was assassinated in 44 b.c. ), a.d. is also frequently found after the date in all types of writing, including historical works: The Roman emperor Claudius I lived from 10 b.c. to 54 a.d. Despite its literal meaning, a.d. is also used to designate centuries, being placed after the specified century: the second century a.d.
In strict usage, ad is only employed with specific years: he died in 1621 ad , but he died in the 17th century (and not the 17th century ad ). Formerly the practice was to write ad preceding the date ( ad 1621 ), and it is also strictly correct to omit in when ad is used, since this is already contained in the meaning of the Latin anno Domini (in the year of Our Lord), but this is no longer general practice. bc is used with both specific dates and indications of the period: Heraclitus was born about 540 bc ; the battle took place in the 4th century bc
Etymology
Origin of ad1
First recorded in 1795–1800; by shortening
Origin of ad2
First recorded in 1915–20; by shortening
Origin of ad3
From Latin
Origin of ad-4
< Latin ad, ad- (preposition and prefix) to, toward, at, about; cognate with at 1
Origin of -ad5
Greek -ad- (stem of -as ), specialization of feminine adjective-forming suffix, often used substantively
Origin of -ad7
From the Latin word ad toward, anomalously suffixed to the noun; introduced as a suffix by Scottish anatomist John Barclay (1758–1826) in 1803
Origin of a.d.9
From Latin annō Dominī
Origin of a.d.10
From Latin ante diem
Explanation
An ad is a commercial or a print promotion for some product or service. In other words, an ad is an advertisement. When a company uses print or broadcasting — newspapers, magazines, the Internet, or television, for example — to attempt to sell more of something, it's an ad. Though the word ad is an informal shortened form of advertisement, it's become more commonly used than the original. Those in the business of advertising have objected to this slang form ever since it was first used, around 1840.
Vocabulary lists containing ad
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 ad carries a disclaimer that it was "created in whole or in part with the use of artificial intelligence."
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
That leaves Meta relying on its ad business to pay for its data-center build-out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
The ad has been viewed more than a million times on X. Marshall’s lawyers have called it defamatory, demanding it come down, saying the debt was larger and the arrest was for missing court dates.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
Despite all the outrage across the country about the ad, it’s likely the final tally in Ohio will remain largely as it would have been before the kerfuffle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026
“There was no suspicion of her going off, nor no provocation to do so,” the ad said.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
What’s more, the Cardinals are surging and better with ad- dition of Zach Ertz.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
The new party was founded to “boldly ad- dress their issues, the war in Vietnam, the militarization of society, the problems of the poor, and the destruction of the environment,” the party’s website proclaims.
From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2015
From Aesop’s Fables to Arabian Nights, many classic stories are about ad- venture and quests.
From MSNBC ● Sep. 9, 2014
He must be backstage in case something goes wrong and he has to ad- lib.
From BusinessWeek ● Feb. 22, 2012
NOTE.—The forms ac-, af-, etc., are euphonic variations of ad-, and follow generally the rule that the final consonant of the prefix assimilates to the initial letter of the root.
From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton
Gay = gaj‑a; gloomy = malgaja; suf. -ad denotes continuance.
From International Language Past, Present and Future: With Specimens of Esperanto and Grammar by Walter John Clark
To make sick = naŭz‑i; -ad denotes continuation. 8Tired of.
From International Language Past, Present and Future: With Specimens of Esperanto and Grammar by Walter John Clark
To roll = rul‑i; suf. -ad denotes continuance. 9Weariness.
From International Language Past, Present and Future: With Specimens of Esperanto and Grammar by Walter John Clark
“Not a single ad. It looks like the old Pinterest. You’re welcome,” she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
The banner, which uses the neo-fascist group‘s signature colors, also references the hot-button American Eagle ad. “She has the best blue genes,” the banner says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
“It’s from an old Budweiser ad. Yeah. It reminds me of that other famous Churchill quote, ‘Wazzzuuuuuuup?’”
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2024
“We hear you today. We must hear you tomorrow. There are less than 8 million Jewish people in this country. Fewer than are watching this ad. They need you to add your voice.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2022
“It’s a lot like that ad. The one we found on the ground. You remember, Ruth?”
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
One Ennion jug, now fragmentary, survived a fire during the Roman capture of Jerusalem in a.d.
From Architectural Digest ● Dec. 11, 2014
The first exhibit of ancient glass in the New York museum’s history, “Ennion: Master of Roman Glass” features pieces dating from the early 1st century a.d. by Ennion, the era’'s preeminent maker of mold-blown glass.
From Architectural Digest ● Dec. 11, 2014
Somewhere around 800 a.d. their hungry successors took another look at the crop and liked what they saw.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Cahokia, biggest of all, was preeminent from about 950 to about 1250 a.d.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
But both traditional lore and contemporary astronomical calculations suggest that Haudenosaunee dates back to between 1090 and 1150 a.d.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
In 1960, Science, one of the world’s leading science journals, published an article with an unambiguous title: Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026
Around 1000 A.D., a new cultural system developed in the Mississippi River Valley and spread across large parts of what are now the Midwest and eastern United States.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
There was enough of a resurgence in the 1970s to merit a new term, the “directorial mode,” coined by critic A.D.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
“In the 14th century A.D., a Moroccan explorer named Ibn Battuta documented that a buttery variation of khichuri was eaten daily in South Asia,” wrote Rachael Grow for Mashed.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
Seven of those fleets sailed from China between A.D.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Among the conditions examined, the neurodegenerative disorders AD and MCI showed the strongest associations with higher PAD values, suggesting the greatest degree of accelerated brain aging.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
It also contained various other relics – including metal weapons – belonging to the pre-Incan Chimu civilisation, a culture that flourished on the northern coast of Peru between 900 and 1470 AD.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
"A whole system was built around this temple," which dates to between the first century BC and the second century AD, said Myriam Ziade, regional antiquities official with the culture ministry.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
“I was moving away from Venus for the first time in my life, so I wanted it to be really meaningful,” Williams explained to AD while discussing the project.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026
By the first century AD the vast majority of people throughout most of the world were agriculturists.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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