ala
noun
a wing.
ala
1 American
[ay-luh]
/ ˈeɪ lə /
noun
-
alae
plural
-
a wing.
-
a winglike part, process, or expansion, as of a bone, shell, seed, or stem.
-
either of the two side petals of a flower in the legume family, as the pea.
-
(in an ancient Roman house) a small room, as an alcove, opening into a larger room or courtyard.
Ala
2
American
[ah-lah]
/ ˈɑ lɑ /
noun
Ala
3
American
abbreviation
Biochemistry.
Ala.
4
American
abbreviation
A.L.A.
5
American
abbreviation
-
American Library Association.
-
Associate in Liberal Arts.
-
Authors League of America.
-
Automobile Legal Association.
ala
1
British
/ ˈeɪlə /
noun
-
zoology a wing or flat winglike process or structure, such as a part of some bones and cartilages
-
botany a winglike part, such as one of the wings of a sycamore seed or one of the flat petals of a sweet pea flower
Ala.
2
British
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ala
1730–40; < Latin āla wing, armpit, shoulder, representing *aks-lā, derivative of same base as axis axle ( see axis 1); see axle
Vocabulary lists containing ala
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:
During his rookie season, Rams edge rusher Jared Verse established himself as one of the NFL’s most boisterous players — and also a force to be reckoned with ala former Rams star Aaron Donald.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2025
Last month I also decided to practice manifestation ala influencer Amanda Francis, and as I delivered four large dishes to a client, I said to myself, “Money is flowing toward me in abundance.”
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2024
At the end of the event, he was asked to press his hands into a tray of butter — ala The Hollywood Walk of Fame — as part of new ad campaign “Butter Call Saul.”
From Washington Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
As you speak to them, you’re presented with dialogue choices and a timer, ala Telltale’s The Walking Dead.
From The Verge ● Sep. 22, 2021
The people endeavored to kill the prize, but without success till Aiai came and threw three ala stones at it and killed it.
From Hawaiian Folk Tales A Collection of Native Legends by Thomas G. (Thomas George) Thrum
Now she’s returning the favor by asking a German state leader to grease the organizing wheels for the UAW at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Cook, a sophomore, was described as “an incredibly grounded, generous and faithful, bright light” during a service at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in her hometown of Birmingham, Ala.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
He’s a civil rights lawyer who has argued death penalty cases at the Supreme Court, and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Ala.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025
Her two sisters, Ala and Jana, nod in agreement as we sit, squeezed together on this cold winter's day, on an old lumpy sofa in their humble home in Homs.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024
“Is that why you wanted to study the Ala Wai Canal for the observation journal?”
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
In Detroit, Indianapolis, Birmingham, Ala., and Louisville, Ky., it also takes fewer than 12 years.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Mahalia Jackson visited Montgomery, Ala., to help mark the first anniversary of that black community’s remarkably successful campaign to desegregate city buses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Nineteen months later, Kessler — now the Lakers center — found his voice while on a Fourth of July outing at Lake Martin, Ala., and asked Stockard to marry him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
The company is based in Huntsville, Ala., and is led by James “Trip” Ferguson External link.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
Our regiment was taken out of the line of battle and camped in the town and heavy details made from it to guard the supply trains to Bridgeport, Ala., and return.
From A Historic Sketch Lest We Forget Company E 26th Ohio Infantry by Walden Kelly
The A.L.A. experimented with arrangements for choosing the winners before opting, in the late 1930s, for a committee of 23 librarians who selected both the Newbery and Caldecott recipients.
From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2019
But Ungerer crossed a line at the A.L.A. event, as the crowd pushed him—asking how dare he draw “Fornicon” and children’s books.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2015
Up until his remarks at the A.L.A. conference, Ungerer had co-existed in several worlds at once, working brilliantly in each.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2015
It was the first A.L.A. award for Mr. Alexander, a poet and novelist who has published 17 books.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2015
He was president of the A.L.A. in 1893-94.
From The Library and Society Reprints of Papers and Addresses by Arthur Elmore Bostwick
The wildlife refuge is a wetland that provides nesting, feeding and resting habitat to the endangered Hawaiian stilt, known as aeo, and the Hawaiian coot or alae keokeo.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
The larynx has the lateral sacculi well developed, though entirely concealed within the alae of the thyroid cartilage.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 6 "Home, Daniel" to "Hortensius, Quintus" by Various
But to this day every alae bird wears the symbol of punishment for telling its secret—a tuft of red feathers on the top of its head.
From Legends of the Wailuku by Will Herwig
Wait this time until you hear the cry of the alae bird, and the ewaewaiki calling; then come out of the house and stand before the assembly.
From The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai by Martha Warren Beckwith
The medial ramus of the pterygoid does not articulate with the otic capsule, and the parasphenoid alae are laterally, rather than posterolaterally, oriented.
From A Synopsis of Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Osteocephalus by William E. Duellman
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.
