bc
1 Americanabbreviation
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Music. basso continuo.
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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
abbreviation
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Scuba Diving. buoyancy compensator.
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British Columbia, Canada (approved for postal use).
abbreviation
abbreviation
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Bachelor of Chemistry.
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Bachelor of Commerce.
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bass clarinet.
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battery commander.
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British Columbia.
abbreviation
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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
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British Columbia
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.
“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
“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
And thus it took over two hundred years after his death, in the fourth century bc, for his mantle to be assumed by Cicero.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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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.