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  • ama
    ama
    noun
    a Japanese diver, usually a woman, who tends underwater oyster beds used in the cultivation of pearls.
  • -ama
    -ama
    variant of -orama, occurring as the final element in compounds when the first element is a disyllable ending in - r, used so that the entire word maintains the same number of syllables as panorama .
  • A.M.A.
    A.M.A.
    abbreviation
    American Management Association.
  • AMA
    AMA
    abbreviation
    American Medical Association: a national group comprising over 200 state-level and specialized medical societies in the United States.

ama

1 American  
[ah-mah] / ˈɑ mɑ /

noun

  • amas,
    plural
  • ama
    plural
  1. a Japanese diver, usually a woman, who tends underwater oyster beds used in the cultivation of pearls.


-ama 2 American  
  1. variant of -orama, occurring as the final element in compounds when the first element is a disyllable ending in - r, used so that the entire word maintains the same number of syllables as panorama .

    rollerama; Futurama.


A.M.A. 3 American  

abbreviation

  1. American Management Association.

  2. American Medical Association.

  3. American Motorcycle Association.


AMA 4 American  

abbreviation

  • AMAs
    plural
  1. American Medical Association: a national group comprising over 200 state-level and specialized medical societies in the United States.

  2. Digital Technology. ask me anything: an online interview in which users can submit any question via comments or live chat on the website hosting the interview; also used in prompts inviting users to submit any question.

  3. American Motorcyclist Association.

  4. American Music Awards.


AMA British  

abbreviation

  1. American Medical Association

  2. Australian Medical Association

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of ama

From Japanese, dating back to 1945–50, of uncertain origin


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:

I am 60 years old, and ama server.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026

He added in the comments: "WOULDVE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown."

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2022

Sixty-one-year-old Tahi Nepia is calmly paddling his outrigger canoe, called a waka ama in his Indigenous Māori language, as it is buffeted from side to side.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2022

His two daughters refer to Etcheverry and his wife, Kathy, as aita and ama, Basque for father and mother.

From Washington Times ● May 7, 2016

Amytis is probably ama, "active, great," with the ordinary feminine suffix -iti, found in Armaiti, Khnathaiti, and the like.

From The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 3. (of 7): Media The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

The A.M.A., reflecting a now bygone era perhaps more optimistic than our own, was foreseeing a continuing tide of advances in medical science that would carry people along in good health for decade after decade.

From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2023

In the United States, the industry is worth an estimated $35 billion, and there are about 50,000 to 80,000 of these products, according to The A.M.A.

From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022

Amid an uproar, the A.M.A. backed out of the deal; Sunbeam sued for breach of contract and won a ten-million-dollar settlement.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 5, 2019

The A.M.A. once represented three-fourths of all American doctors; the growth of subspecialty societies may have contributed to its diminishment.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 5, 2019

Chicago, 1917, LXIX, 861-863; see also his, "Objective Psychobiology, or Psychobiology with Subordination of the Medically Useless Contrast of Medical and Physical," Journal A.M.A.,

From A Psychiatric Milestone Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921 by New York Hospital. Society

Alderson, who runs AMA Maritime Safety, said he would characterise it as a "significant incident" that deserves proper scrutiny so that lessons can be learned.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

While the AMA isn’t the only medical organization advocating such things, it is the most powerful.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Some 700 physicians in the organization’s house of delegates—0.23% of AMA membership—vote for its officers and council members.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Thousands of Reddit users have been writing questions to Burnham since he announced he would be holding an AMA session on Thursday.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

Gradually, perhaps under the influence of a Middle English AMA, the worm was given sole rights to the word, and the doctor became the doctor, out of dek, meaning to accept, later to teach.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Paradigm, pre-Kuhn, referred merely to an example that serves an educational purpose; amo, amas, amat, for instance, is a paradigm for teaching conjugations in Latin.

From Scientific American ● May 23, 2012

Layoff, to a govt. worker 43. __, amas, amat 44.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Amo, amas, you know, and runnin’ about like hooligans: what would you advise?”

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

“Grace and I are just friends, Kojo. And ‘amo, amas, amat’ is Latin, not Spanish, although Spanish is considered one of the romance languages.”

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

Once her montonous reciting of amo, amas, amat, amamus etc. reached even Ekkehard's ear in his chamber.

From Ekkehard. Vol. I (of II) A Tale of the Tenth Century by Joseph Victor von Scheffel

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