axes

¹ American

[ak-seez] / ˈæk siz /

noun

plural of axis.

axes ² American

[ak-siz] / ˈæk sɪz /

noun

plural of ax or axe.

axes ¹ British

/ ˈæksiːz /

noun

the plural of axis 1

"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

axes ² British

/ ˈæksɪz /

noun

the plural of axe

"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.

Hand axes were held in the palm rather than attached to a wooden handle.

From BBC • Jan. 30, 2026

The towering ambition of the men remaking the landscape with saws and axes, and the men, like Grainier, who were somehow pulled through that current.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2026

But there wasn’t much benefit in tracking sales of shovels, pick axes, and sifting pans in order to validate the bull case for the California Gold Rush.

From Barron's • Nov. 20, 2025

According to the authors, “HTS’s trajectory has revolved around two principal axes: an ideological realignment toward the center, and a Thermidorian shift” away from the revolution.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 3, 2025

They dashed to the crash site and used axes to chop a hole in the floor of the cockpit of the upside-down plane.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023