b
b
1 Americanabbreviation
B
2
American
[bee]
/ bi /
Or
b
noun
-
B's,
plural
-
Bs,
plural
-
b's,
plural
-
bs
plural
-
the second letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
-
any spoken sound represented by the letter B or b, as in bid, bauble, or daubed.
-
something having the shape of a B .
-
a written or printed representation of the letter B or b.
-
a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter B or b.
B
4
American
Symbol.
-
the second in order or in a series.
-
(sometimes lowercase) (in some grading systems) a grade or mark, as in school or college, indicating the quality of a student's work as good or better than average.
-
(sometimes lowercase) (in some school systems) a symbol designating the second semester of a school year.
-
Physiology. a major blood group usually enabling a person whose blood is of this type to donate blood to persons of type B or AB and to receive blood from persons of type O or B.
-
Music.
-
the seventh tone in the scale of C major or the second tone in the relative minor scale, A minor.
-
a string, key, or pipe tuned to this tone.
-
a written or printed note representing this tone.
-
(in the fixed system of solmization) the seventh tone of the scale of C major, called ti.
-
the tonality having B as the tonic note.
-
-
(sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 300.
-
Chemistry. boron.
-
a proportional shoe width size, narrower than C and wider than A.
-
a proportional brassiere cup size, smaller than C and larger than A.
-
Physics. magnetic induction.
-
Electricity. susceptance.
-
a designation for a motion picture made on a low budget and meant as the secondary part of a double feature.
-
a quality rating for a corporate or municipal bond, lower than BB and higher than CCC.
B-
5
American
U.S. Military.
b.
6
American
abbreviation
-
bachelor.
-
bale.
-
Baseball. base; baseman.
-
bass.
-
basso.
-
bay.
-
billion.
-
blend of; blended.
-
book.
-
born.
-
breadth.
-
brother.
-
brotherhood.
B.
7
American
abbreviation
-
bachelor.
-
bacillus.
-
Baseball. base; baseman.
-
bass.
-
basso.
-
bay.
-
Bible.
-
bolivar.
-
boliviano.
-
book.
-
born.
-
breadth.
-
British.
-
brother.
-
brotherhood.
B
1
British
symbol
-
music
-
a note having a frequency of 493.88 hertz ( B above middle C ) or this value multiplied or divided by any power of 2; the seventh note of the scale of C major
-
a key, string, or pipe producing this note
-
the major or minor key having this note as its tonic
-
-
the supporting or less important of two things
the B side of a record
-
a human blood type of the ABO group, containing the B antigen
-
(in Britain) a secondary road
-
the number 11 in hexadecimal notation
-
chem boron
-
magnetic flux density
-
chess bishop
-
(on Brit pencils, signifying degree of softness of lead) black Compare H
B
2B
3B
-
Also: b. physics bel
-
physics baryon number
-
balboa
-
belga
-
bolivar
-
photog B-setting
-
-
a person whose job is in middle management, or who holds an intermediate administrative or professional position
-
( as modifier ) See also occupation groupings
a B worker
-
abbreviation
b
2
British
/ biː /
noun
-
the second letter and first consonant of the modern English alphabet
-
a speech sound represented by this letter, usually a voiced bilabial stop, as in bell
-
Also: beta. the second in a series, esp the second highest grade in an examination
B.
3
British
abbreviation
-
(on maps, etc) bay
-
British
b.
4
British
abbreviation
-
born
-
cricket bowled
B-
5
British
abbreviation
b
6
British
symbol
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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:
LHS 1140 b, however, produced a clear signal of helium escaping from the planet, providing evidence that it still retains an atmosphere.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
Cherubim and his colleagues developed a theoretical model predicting that the upper atmosphere of LHS 1140 b would contain large amounts of helium slowly escaping into space.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
The planet, called LHS 1140 b, is 48 light-years from Earth orbiting a red star much smaller and cooler than our Sun.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The new research estimates that GJ 504 b is between 2.5 billion and 4 billion years old.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026
This b what the chronicles say, at any rate.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Musk’s ownership and voting power includes vested options on 350 million SpaceX Class B shares and 286 million unvested and votable restricted Tesla shares received on exercising vested options.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Shasta County Superior Court Judge Benjamin L. Hanna on Friday issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks Measure B, a citizens’ initiative approved by 56% of voters in the June primary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Musk’s holdings of SpaceX Class A shares, with one vote apiece, and Class B, with 10, give him about 86% of any SpaceX vote needed to approve a deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The immunisations recommended for all children under the order are for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and varicella or chicken pox.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Daddy would walk by on his way to the barn and say, “Ida B, stop moping and find something to do.”
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Fitch said Tuesday it upgraded the country’s Long-Term Foreign Currency and Local Currency Issuer Default Rating to B- from CCC+, with a stable ratings outlook.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
S&P Global assigned Strategy a B- issuer credit rating with stable outlook in October.
From Barron's ● Nov. 24, 2025
He hopes the division can improve from Peters’ grade of a B- to a higher level.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
Those who attended the film were apparently disappointed in the lack of action scenes, with audiences giving a lukewarm "B-" grade in exit polls, Variety said.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
She holds my current grades by two fingers: D, C, B-, D, C-, C, A. No basketball team for me, because the A was in art, so my GPA is a whopping 1.7.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
In 2018, the Moscow Zoo launched a Blakiston’s fish owl breeding program, which currently is made up of two B. b. blakistoni females, one in Moscow and another at the Sakhalin Island Zoo.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 5, 2021
“I drive Kansas interstates frequently, and I know that they are doing an excellent job, a. keeping the ditches mowed and b., keeping our roads clear and safe,” said Claeys.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 10, 2019
Consider the two solutions from part b.: λ1 and λ2.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
Use b. to determine how fast costs are increasing when t = 2 weeks.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
The inscription turned out to be a date: September 3,32 b. c. , in today’s calendar.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
I hadn’t learned yet that I was a Type A person masquerading as Type B. The disguise began to fray almost immediately.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
The idea behind this new paid service is "getting the fastest investors and algorithms a split-second advantage," Art Hogan, an analyst with B. Riley Wealth Management, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
Head Start was created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty and targets the myriad challenges that low-income households face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
It isn’t as if she doesn’t have several plans B. And it gives “Techniquely” a winningly informal bouquet, especially when the jokes fall flat and she collapses, mock-groaning, on the cutting board.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
During this time we began considering a plan to send astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. into the atmosphere.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
B’s on a report card are not allowed in his family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
Outfits worn by the Spice Girls, including Mel B's leopard-print catsuit, are on display as part of a "Cool Britannia" exhibition in London.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
“We don’t want to be portrayed as: ‘Students don’t want to get B’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
“I mean, I got some B’s in math in school, so yeah, I’m aware of the math there,” he said, acknowledging the swing nature of his vote.
From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2026
The woman scans my transcript—mostly C's bracketed by a couple of B's and D's.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
Ah’Mari, now a 17-year-old junior, said he earned As, Bs and one C throughout high school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
Only eight banks got Bs, while the majority got Cs; 36 got Ds.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026
“If we think there are risks, depending on our analysis of the context, we have fallback scenarios. There are plan Bs and plan Cs,” Macron said.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2024
"There are plan Bs and plan Cs", he said, adding: "We are preparing them in parallel, we will analyse this in real time."
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2024
Since the “Toast for Change” wiped the slate clean for many of them, their grades have gone from Ds and Fs to As and Bs.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
After modelling the exoplanet and the star in the HAT-P-18 system, the iREx astronomers performed a meticulous dissection of HAT-P-18 b's atmospheric composition.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 9, 2024
The planet’s initial discovery and its photographic follow-up were only possible because of the decades-spanning Gaia-Hipparcos data, which allowed detection of HIP 99770 b’s long orbit.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 13, 2023
Despite orbiting at such a vast distance from its host stars, the James Webb Space Telescope was able to study VHS 1256 b's atmosphere and found evidence of several intriguing compounds — including water.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2023
Johansen says AB Aurigae b’s position in one of the disk’s spiral arms could indicate either creation mechanism.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 3, 2022
It was because she has trouble saying words sometimes, especially beginnings, like b’s and t’s and k’s.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
"This won't be the last failure of this nature so long as people are rewarded for pushing this bs," he said.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2023
But he has also been dismissive, as he was as recently as Dec. 20, when he tweeted, “Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2021
Plaskett took note of all this attention and even retweeted a message that said “@StaceyPlaskett is all of us right now listening to the bs in #CohenHearing.”
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2019
“Hey Joe, my buddy was offered an eli game used helmet and jersey. Are these the bs ones eli asked you to make up because he didnt want to give up the real stuff?”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 28, 2017
A is the condition of in-sinking of the sternal surface and consequent enclosure of the lamelligerous surface of the appendage in a chamber with narrow orifice—the pulmonary air-holding chamber. pl, Pulmonary lamellae. bs, Blood sinus.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various
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.
