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

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BC ² American  

abbreviation

1. Scuba Diving. buoyancy compensator.

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

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B/C ³ American  

1. bills for collection.

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b.c. ⁴ American  

Or B.C.

abbreviation

1. before Christ (used in indicating dates).

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B.C. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Bachelor of Chemistry.

2. Bachelor of Commerce.

3. bass clarinet.

4. battery commander.

5. British Columbia.

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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

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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

“It's also cruel & irrelevant. Anyone who has experienced loss like that can remember images, smells, bit of conversations. The pain is burned into you. Dates blend together bc they're irrelevant.”

From Salon • Mar. 12, 2024

Ohh my fault, it was holding bc he threw the flag.”

From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2023

“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

In his comic play The Clouds, Aristophanes, writing in 420 bc, lampooned rhetoric as the art of weak reasoning, “which by false arguments triumphs over the strong.”

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith