car
noun
an automobile.
car
1 American
[kahr]
/ kɑr /
noun
-
cars
plural
-
an automobile.
-
a vehicle running on rails, as a streetcar or railroad car.
-
the part of an elevator, balloon, modern airship, etc., that carries the passengers, freight, etc.
-
British Dialect. any wheeled vehicle, as a farm cart or wagon.
-
Literary. a chariot, as of war or triumph.
-
Archaic. cart; carriage.
car
2
American
[kahr]
/ kɑr /
CAR
3
American
car.
4
American
abbreviation
car
1
British
/ kɑː /
noun
-
-
Also called: motorcar, automobile. a self-propelled road vehicle designed to carry passengers, esp one with four wheels that is powered by an internal-combustion engine
-
( as modifier )
car coat
-
-
a conveyance for passengers, freight, etc, such as a cable car or the carrier of an airship or balloon
-
a railway vehicle for passengers only, such as a sleeping car or buffet car
-
a railway carriage or van
-
the enclosed platform of a lift
-
a poetic word for chariot
CAR
2
British
abbreviation
Usage
What else does car mean? To most of us on the outside, a car is a vehicle with a motor and four wheels. But in prison slang, your car is your crew, especially when it comes to drugs, protection, and money-making.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of car1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English carre, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin carra (feminine singular), from Latin, neuter plural of carrum, variant of carrus “baggage cart, freight wagon,” from Gaulish; akin to Old Irish carr “wheeled vehicle”
Origin of car2
First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English ( Scots ), from Scots Gaelic ceàrr “false, left, wrong”
Origin of CAR3
First recorded in 1980–85
Explanation
Your car is your automobile, your wheels, your vehicle. A car can also be another kind of moving compartment — such as a railroad car, a cable car, or a trolley car. The word car has been around much longer than the automobile. It comes from the Latin carrus, a kind of wagon the Romans discovered from the Gauls, a European people the Romans conquered. It shows up in Italian and Spanish (carro, meaning "a car or a cart," and it also survives in various forms in modern Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, German, and other languages. When you’re listening to your engine purr, you can thank the Gauls. And the Romans.
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:
“I don’t remember hearing them leave. I don’t know how long it was that I laid there before I rolled over, and I looked up and my car was like right there.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
That happened in May, when a traffic stop led to a car being pulled over near a polling place, and ICE agents showed up to question the driver.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
Russell will also be reverting to an older specification car in Singapore this weekend.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
A car sold to a customer brings in cash on delivery; a car Tesla keeps for its robotaxi service earns its money gradually, one ride at a time.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
She can’t just hop in a car and take off for Calumpit.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The second particle delivers DNA containing the instructions for producing the cancer-fighting CAR.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Investment by suppliers plunged from more than $8 billion in the first quarter of 2025 to around $600 million in the two subsequent quarters before recovering somewhat, according to CAR data.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
In 2025, during a clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy, a technique currently used to treat some types of leukaemia and lymphoma, Maya developed a brain injury which Dellanie said left her "profoundly disabled".
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
The researchers are testing whether CAR T cells can seek out these disease-driving B cells even when they are buried deep within body tissues.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
The text was all in screaming caps: CAR COMING!
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
“Because who is not going to run after doing that stuff? Unless they’re hurt. He just gets out of his car. So I’m just thinking ... ‘This guy’s going to run.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
“I don’t have any assets. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a phone.”
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
"You need to be quite aware of where to place the car. It's about getting all the small details right. I expect it to be a tough race."
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
"It was over £10,000 of damage. It was a brand new car. We only had it for about three weeks," she says.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
“You can watch from the car. It’s warmer.”
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
The intense g-force hits in the first second of the race, as the cars go from stationary to 100mph, with a second gut punch following as the clutch fully engages about half-way through.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The German luxury sports car maker on Wednesday outlined a plan to accelerate profitability over the coming years, which included expanding the individualization options on its cars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Running a robotaxi fleet requires vehicles, charging, maintenance, cleaning, insurance and remote staff who monitor the cars and step in when they get stuck.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
They’re performance-based: whatever carmakers can do to meet the standards is suitable, including new technologies in gasoline-powered cars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Akira thought back to the other cars they’d passed, but all of them had had more than one person in them, and none of them were SUVs.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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.
