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:
AI is enabling a more ad hoc structure based on workflows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
He sounded as chipper as a Chamber of Commerce ad.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Netflix, which is still growing its ad business, faced early complaints that the subscriber base for its ad tier was too small and advertisers couldn’t effectively target specific groups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Seven months in, the ad business is now in more than 50 countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The article runs for a couple of inches, next to an ad for fur coats, thirty per cent off.
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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
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
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
“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
A spokesperson for the ASA said: "We've received a complaint about a Nationwide ad. The complainant argues that the ad is misleading around other banks closing branches, and discredits and denigrates its competitors."
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2024
“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
“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
Construction began in the first few centuries a.d.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Only Iceland's Althing, founded in 930 a.d., is older.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Anyone who traveled up the Mississippi in 1100 a.d. would have seen it looming in the distance: a four-level earthen mound bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Plinian eruptions represent the most explosive class of volcanic eruptions and are named after Pliny the Elder, who described the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Augustus would rule until his death of natural causes in A.D.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 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
Its dominant object, a bronze sculpture of the god Veiovis, dates to the first century A.D., after Etruscans became Roman citizens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
New York City, 1998 A.D., was a paradise for the sightseer more than ever in its history.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs etched into the desert sands that date back to between 500 BC and 500 AD.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
Army versus Navy at the Roman Colosseum would be a fitting site for these historic rivals, particularly if the game took place in AD 80.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Eryn From Brookeborough in County Fermanagh, previously told BBC News NI she doesn't visit the cinema often, as the nearby IMC in Enniskillen does not offer AD headsets.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Emma Grede noted in her AD interview that the smaller size of the Malibu home was appealing because it allowed the family to feel more together.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026
AD, I watch tight groups of friends giggle past me, and moms with strollers and huge shopping bags, order up caffè americanos and skinny vanilla lattes.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
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.
