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API

American  

abbreviation

  1. American Petroleum Institute. Also A.P.I.

  2. Computers. application programming (or program) interface: a set of protocols used by programmers to create applications for a specific operating system or to interface between the different modules of an application.

API British  

abbreviation

  1. application programming interface

"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

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.

According to Anthropic, the three Chinese labs generated more than 16 million exchanges with Claude through unauthorized third-party API resellers.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 28, 2026

They find value in stocks where capability improvements flow directly into API, or application programming interface, monetization.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 16, 2026

Data from expense-management startup Ramp shows that Anthropic in January dominated so-called API spending, which occurs when users access an AI model through a third-party service.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

“It takes far too long to build the infrastructure required to move energy where it’s needed,” API President Mike Sommers told reporters.

From Barron's • Jan. 13, 2026

This is a glimpse of the API at work in the game.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

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.