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:
Recent ad campaigns and short films have shown that AI video -- even when it includes human characters -- has crossed a real threshold.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
That 50-versus-33-pound claim that Eli Lilly highlights in its ad is the problem, said Novo Nordisk’s senior vice president and group general counsel, John Kuckelman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Novo Nordisk claimed its main competitor in the weight-loss drug business had committed "multiple violations" of federal and state false advertising and unfair competition laws, through its nationwide ad campaigns.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
One ad cited by Novo in its lawsuit is called “Watch This: Head-to-Head,” which began airing in February, according to iSpot.tv.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
In a moment he was back: calm now, beaming, a dad from an ad.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
There’s also the question of how DuckDuckGo’s browser compares to Brave, a Chromium fork that’s already available on Mac, Windows, and Linux that offers some of the same ad- and tracker-blocking capabilities.
From The Verge ● Apr. 12, 2022
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
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 Clark, Walter John
To roll = rul‑i; suf. -ad denotes continuance. 9Weariness.
From International Language Past, Present and Future: With Specimens of Esperanto and Grammar by Clark, Walter John
Gay = gaj‑a; gloomy = malgaja; suf. -ad denotes continuance.
From International Language Past, Present and Future: With Specimens of Esperanto and Grammar by Clark, Walter John
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
“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
“I had posted an ad. I had arranged to meet him,” said Strausbaugh, 28, of Heidelberg Township, shifting in her seat as she recounted the details of her case.
From Washington Times ● May 25, 2019
“You gonna go try somewheres tomorrow. I mean it. The first thing you gonna do is answer this ad. You playing around, Ignatius. I know you.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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
Some time around 1000 a.d., the Indian agricultural trinity of maize, beans, and squash appeared in the area.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Now the facts were re-established, and gone were all the fantasies, such as the Olympic Games for a.d.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
Between 800 and 830 a.d., most of the main dynasties fell; cities winked out throughout the Maya heartland.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
“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
Ariel Yagen, who plays the adult Jesus, is a thickly bearded Israeli who looks like he’d fit right into an Aramaic-speaking village like Nazareth, circa A.D.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
The noted Roman naturalist and historian was indeed an early expert in fermentation, yet he also wrote about “sal ammoniac” — yes, smelling salts — in his encyclopedic work “Natural History,” published in 79 A.D.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2026
Mr. Tuck traces the family names of people who lived in Pompeii and Herculaneum to these and other nearby towns where they had not existed before A.D.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
Archaeological evidence traces the visits back until around A.D.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
“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
The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD was, among other things, the first large-scale institutional exercise in theological fact-checking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
In AD 452, when Attila the Hun sacked city after city in his conquest of the known world, it was the Catholic Church, not the Roman military, that met him in a show of diplomacy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
These remains spanned more than 2,000 years of Egyptian history between 3200 BC and 395 AD.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 16, 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.
