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  • bc
    bc
    abbreviation
    basso continuo.
  • BC
    BC
    abbreviation
    buoyancy compensator.
  • B/C
    B/C
    bills for collection.
  • b.c.
    b.c.
    abbreviation
    before Christ (used in indicating dates).
  • B.C.
    B.C.
    abbreviation
    Bachelor of Chemistry.

bc

1 American  

abbreviation

  1. Music. basso continuo.

  2. blind copy: used as a notation on the copy of a letter or other document sent to a third person without the addressee's knowledge. Also


BC 2 American  

abbreviation

  1. Scuba Diving. buoyancy compensator.

  2. British Columbia, Canada (approved for postal use).


B/C 3 American  
  1. bills for collection.


b.c. 4 American  
Or B.C.

abbreviation

  1. before Christ (used in indicating dates).


B.C. 5 American  

abbreviation

  1. Bachelor of Chemistry.

  2. Bachelor of Commerce.

  3. bass clarinet.

  4. battery commander.

  5. British Columbia.


BC British  

abbreviation

  1. Also: B.C..  (indicating years numbered back from the supposed year of the birth of Christ) before Christ Compare AD

    in 54 bc Caesar came

  2. British Columbia

"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

Usage

The abbreviation b.c. “before Christ” is always placed after a date or century: Cleopatra lived from 69 to 30 b.c. The war took place in the first century b.c. See also a.d. 1

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:

“We *want* remain pass less and will continue to wear our man repellent vision helpers, mostly so we can function, but also bc of the bonus Creeper Deterrents. #jeopardy #foureyes,” another wrote.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 30, 2024

“There needs to be an age limit on congressional positions bc this was so embarrassing,” one user wrote in the caption of a video posted on Friday.

From New York Times Mar. 28, 2023

Allen said: When LT blocked him, not Sweat, he knew to stay outside bc Sweat would go inside.

From Washington Post Nov. 22, 2022

They didn't want people to see my tweets and support me more & more bc they want to control information.

From Salon Nov. 6, 2022

Honestly, my parents said I shouldn’t text you much bc of your mom and stuff.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

Another 1st or 2nd Century BC vessel was found north-west of Rome in 2023, again laden with hundreds of amphorae.

From BBC Aug. 9, 2026

“Everyone loved BC because he was always there as the most supportive friend you could ever imagine,” his agency, Priority Sports, said in a statement after his death.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 7, 2026

The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs etched into the desert sands that date back to between 500 BC and 500 AD.

From Barron's Aug. 2, 2026

This is how Greek audiences in the fourth and fifth centuries BC enjoyed the aural delivery of poems shaped by a long tradition of oral storytelling.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 10, 2026

Dionysius was clearly wrong; today most scholars believe that the birth of Christ was in 4 BC.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

So, diagram the A/B premise and the B/C premise onto the three circles.

From Salon Jul. 29, 2024

“Out of an abundance of caution, TSA evacuated the B/C and D/E security checkpoints to ensure the safety of its employees and travelers,” a TSA spokesperson said in an email.

From Seattle Times Nov. 15, 2023

He’s a smart kid and normally a strong B/C student.

From Slate Feb. 11, 2021

As the BBC revealed on Wednesday, the inspectorate's findings on HMP Liverpool - a local category B/C prison, which also takes people on remand - are damning across the board.

From BBC Dec. 19, 2017

Taagepera, R. Size and duration of empires growth-decline curves, 3000 to 600 b.c.

From Nature Nov. 14, 2017

French archaeologists, for example, have found exquisite ceramic figurines, bowls and funerary objects at sites that date from at least 8000 b.c.

From Time Magazine Archive

Around 750 b.c. it was attacked and its temple razed in a fire so intense that the clay walls melted.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 b.c.

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

The implication is that by 32 b.c. the Olmec already had all three calendars and zero to boot.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

In fact, the domestication of wolf to dog dovetailed into the emerging social structures of humankind, a coevolution documented in ancient petroglyphs of hunting from around 9000 B.C.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 17, 2026

Khichdi, derived from the Sanskrit word khicca, meaning a dish made with rice and legumes, dates back to the ninth century B.C.

From Salon Jun. 7, 2026

The end of the war and the aftermath of Sparta’s victory over Athens, through the years 404-371 B.C., are known to us through the writings of Xenophon, a less insightful observer.

From The Wall Street Journal May 25, 2026

The one that really moved me was an ancient Chinese calligraphy example that’s from 1000 B.C.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 21, 2026

Alphabets apparently arose only once in human history: among speakers of Semitic languages, in the area from modern Syria to the Sinai, during the second millennium B.C.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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