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  • O
    O
    noun
    the fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
  • o'
    o'
    preposition
    a shortened form of of, as in o'clock or will-o'-the-wisp.
  • O'
    O'
    a prefix meaning “descendant,” in Irish family names.
  • o-
    o-
    an abridgment of ortho-.
  • -o
    -o
    a suffix occurring as the final element in informal shortenings of nouns (ammo; combo; condo; limo; promo ); -o also forms nouns, usually derogatory, for persons or things exemplifying or associated with that specified by the base noun or adjective (cheapo; pinko; sicko; weirdo; wino ).
  • o.
    o.
    abbreviation
    pint.
  • -o-
    -o-
    the typical ending of the first element of compounds of Greek origin (as -i- is, in compounds of Latin origin), used regularly in forming new compounds with elements of Greek origin and often used in English as a connective irrespective of etymology.
  • O.
    O.
    abbreviation
    (in prescriptions) a pint.
  • o
    o
    noun
    the 15th letter and fourth vowel of the modern English alphabet
  • O'-
    O'-
    prefix
    (in surnames of Irish Gaelic origin) descendant of
Synonyms

O

1 American  
[oh] / oʊ /
Or o

noun

  • O's,
    plural
  • Os,
    plural
  • o's,
    plural
  • os,
    plural
  • oes
    plural
  1. the fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.

  2. any spoken sound represented by the letter O or o, as in box, note, short, or love .

  3. something having the shape of an O .

  4. a written or printed representation of the letter O or o.

  5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter O or o.


O 2 American  
[oh] / oʊ /

interjection

  1. (used before a name in direct address, especially in solemn or poetic language, to lend earnestness to an appeal).

    Hear, O Israel!

  2. (used as an expression of surprise, pain, annoyance, longing, gladness, etc.)


noun

  • O's
    plural
  1. the exclamation “O.”

O 3 American  

abbreviation

  1. Grammar. object.

  2. Old.


O 4 American  
Symbol.
  1. the fifteenth in order or in a series.

  2. the Arabic cipher; zero.

  3. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 11.

  4. Physiology. a major blood group, usually enabling a person whose blood is of this type to donate blood to persons of group O, A, B, or AB and to receive blood from persons of group O.

  5. Chemistry. oxygen.

  6. Logic. particular negative.


o' 5 American  
[uh, oh] / ə, oʊ /

preposition

  1. a shortened form of of, as in o'clock or will-o'-the-wisp.

  2. Chiefly Dialect. a shortened form of on.


O' 6 American  
  1. a prefix meaning “descendant,” in Irish family names.

    O'Brien; O'Connor.


o- 7 American  
Chemistry.
  1. an abridgment of ortho-.


o- 8 American  
  1. variant of ob- before m:

    omission.


o- 9 American  
  1. variant of oo-.

    oidium.


-o 10 American  
  1. a suffix occurring as the final element in informal shortenings of nouns (ammo; combo; condo; limo; promo ); -o also forms nouns, usually derogatory, for persons or things exemplifying or associated with that specified by the base noun or adjective (cheapo; pinko; sicko; weirdo; wino ).

  2. a suffix occurring in colloquial noun or adjective derivatives, usually grammatically isolated, as in address.

    cheerio; kiddo; neato; righto.


o. 11 American  

abbreviation

  1. pint.


o. 12 American  

abbreviation

  1. octavo.

  2. off.

  3. old.

  4. only.

  5. order.

  6. Baseball. out; outs.


-o- 13 American  
  1. the typical ending of the first element of compounds of Greek origin (as -i- is, in compounds of Latin origin), used regularly in forming new compounds with elements of Greek origin and often used in English as a connective irrespective of etymology.

    Franco-Italian; geography; seriocomic; speedometer.


O. 14 American  

abbreviation

  1. (in prescriptions) a pint.


O. 15 American  

abbreviation

  1. Ocean.

  2. octavo.

  3. October.

  4. Ohio.

  5. Old.

  6. Ontario.

  7. Oregon.


O 1 British  

symbol

  1. chem oxygen

  2. a human blood type of the ABO group See universal donor

  3. logic a particular negative categorial proposition, such as some men are not married: often symbolized as SoP Compare A E I 2

"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

abbreviation

  1. slang offence

"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
o 2 British  
/ əʊ /

noun

  1. the 15th letter and fourth vowel of the modern English alphabet

  2. any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in code, pot, cow, move, or form

  3. another name for nought

"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

O 3 British  
/ əʊ /

interjection

  1. a variant spelling of oh

  2. an exclamation introducing an invocation, entreaty, wish, etc

    O God!

    O for the wings of a dove!

"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

O'- 4 British  

prefix

  1. (in surnames of Irish Gaelic origin) descendant of

    O'Corrigan

"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

-o 5 British  

suffix

  1. forming informal and slang variants and abbreviations, esp of nouns

    wino

    lie doggo

    Jacko

"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

-o- 6 British  
  1. used to connect elements in a compound word Compare -i-

    chromosome

    filmography

"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

o- 7 British  

prefix

  1. short for ortho-

"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

o' 8 British  
/ ə /

preposition

  1. informal shortened form of of

    a cup o' tea

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of O2

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ō

Origin of o'5

From Middle English; by shortening

Origin of O'6

Representing Irish ó descendant, Old Irish au

Origin of -o10

Perhaps originally the interjection O, appended to words as in -o def. 2; as a derivational suffix reinforced by clipped forms of words with -o- as a linking element (e.g., photo, stereo ), by Rom nouns ending in o, and by personal nouns such as bimbo and bozo, of obscure origin

Origin of o.11

From the Latin word octārius

Origin of -o-13

Middle English (< Old French ) < Latin < Greek

Origin of O.14

From the Latin word octārius


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:

The MAL story also illustrates how much complexity is hidden behind the familiar letters A, B, AB and O.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

A delicious word salad: How many words can you create with the letters Y, B, O, F, U, and N?

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

It also gives non-Asian chorus members a reason to be present at Butterfly’s wedding, though having a group of American ladies sing the invocation “O Kami! O Kami!” from song sheets seemed peculiar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

“And at the end of the three years I was on ‘Sanford and Son,’ ‘The Waltons’ and ‘Harry O.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026

So first we’d give Omi a birthday hug inside the O, and then we’d give her a little red pouch of chocolate pebbles—basically M&M’s, but each one a different pebbly shape and color.

From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee

The third, on “I’m Doun for Lack o’ Johnnie,” is the emotional focal point of the Fantasy, a lament both intimate and universal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Although their sting is generally considered "very mild" in comparison to Portuguese man o' war, Hobro advised people not to touch them.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

“Coffee badging”—going to the office just long enough to show your face and grab a cup o’ joe—was a popular workaround.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025

I was raised about two blocks from where you lived at the time, near Tail o’ the Pup.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2025

There’ll be panic, more parents takin’ their kids outta school, an’ nex’ thing yeh know the board o’ governors...”

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

Visitor access to nearby Man O' War beach remains open.

From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026

Former basketball player Shaquille O’ Neal is also a high-profile investor.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 19, 2025

But Heart O’ the Hills confirmed that its camp director, Jane Ragsdale, is one of the flood’s victims .

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025

Girls summer camp Heart O’ the Hills is just a mile north of Camp Mystic.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025

After a single trip to the supermarket, the refrigerator and the cupboards fill with familiar labels: Skippy, Hood, Bumble Bee, Land O’ Lakes.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

At week's end a Russian delegation got the signatures of the leaders of Kazakhstan on a similar agreement-to-try-t o- agree.

From Time Magazine Archive

Similarly, condensation of different samples of crude cresol containing varying quantities of o-, m-, and p-cresol did not yield end-products sufficiently different to justify describing them in detail.

From Synthetic Tannins by Georg Grasser

The text of the larger o- fuda is often accompanied by curious pictures or symbolic illustrations.

From In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn

Quintilianus saieth, that Ethopœia is a imitacion of o- ther meane maners: whom the Grekes dooe calle, not onelie Ethopœia, but mimesis, & this is in the maners, and the fact.

From A booke called the Foundacion of Rhetorike because all other partes of Rhetorike are grounded thereupon, euery parte sette forthe in an Oracion vpon questions, verie profitable to bee knowen and redde by Richard Rainolde

Toluene treated with fuming sulphuric acid first yields o- and p-sulphonic acids, finally o- and p-disulphonic acids, ethylbenzene at the boiling point p-ethylbenzene-sulphonic acid.

From Synthetic Tannins by Georg Grasser

Usually words ending in "-o" are masculine and those ending in "-a" are feminine, but there are many common words that break those gender rules, like "la mano," the word for "hand."

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2022

I don't think the "-e" should eliminate the existing "-o" and the "-a."

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2022

The -o suffix traces back to old comic strip characters with names like Knocko and Groucho.

From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2020

Knocko, Peddlo, Henpecko, and the rest became so popular that the -o suffix soon spread to words up and down the English language.

From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2020

I knew perfectly well why, but I didn’t know how -o put it.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl

The P. o. wallikeri and the P. o. curtisi chromosomes were aligned against each other, as were the P. malariae and P. malariae-like chromosomes.

From Nature ● Jan. 24, 2017

Using a new reference genome for P. malariae and a manually curated draft P. o. curtisi genome, we are now able to accurately place these species within the Plasmodium phylogeny.

From Nature ● Jan. 24, 2017

Reality is that you are giving up your family time by doing the o. t. when they need you at work. 

From Time ● May 3, 2013

“If you dey come give am ticket to leave this here country, I will disappear o. I will not even stop home for pick my bag.”

From Washington Post

“But sometimes one man can be both o. This is the season of weddings. When will it be my turn, Father Lord?”

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Thus masc. -o- stems show palatal modification, e.g. corn, “horn,” plur. cyrn < *kornī; the plural ending of -u- stems, O. Gaulish -oves, gives O.W. -ou, Mid.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various

District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction finding that HUD acted arbitrarily and capriciously and ordered it to restore LAHSA’s authority.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Thankfully, Curry did not allow any eerie rumors to deter him from securing the home, which was originally built in 1922, having been designed by acclaimed architect Stiles O. Clements.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

“The allegation that Kelli manipulates or controls Jerry is false and deeply unfair. They share a loving and supportive partnership of more than 25 years,” a spokesman for Gerald and Kelli O. Ford said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

The Senate opened debate this week on the late South Carolina senator’s legacy legislation—the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act—by an overwhelming 86–12 vote.

From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2026

“R. O. Shipman is the group chaplain,” he corrected.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Allow me to sing, o Muse, of a recent dinner conversation about “The Odyssey.”

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

My eyes watered as the camera panned over his arm-in-arm players as they shouted the line, “Think, o beloved homeland! That heaven/gave you a soldier in each son.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

"The lack of justice has sparked this wave of protests," Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir of the legal rights group Ain o Salish Kendra told AFP.

From Barron's ● May 22, 2026

Mr. Brownlee’s tenor proved rock-solid in Arturo’s demanding music, from his exquisitely relaxed, almost languid opening aria, “A te, o cara,” to some punishing high Fs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

“Grandpapa used to say that it gets worse and then it gets better. O dikata njo, o dikwa mma,” Kainene said.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Barely a week after tying the knot with Taylor Swift in July, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was back at work inside Johnny O’s Gymnasium in Florida.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

While some winning coaches were making their names with toughness that bordered on abuse, he urged Close to see her teams as human beings first, not X’s and O’s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026

Carson Palmer’s coaching staff, filled with former NFL players like himself, have shown they can teach, lead and handle X’s and O’s.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2025

Since that press conference, other experts working for Letby's defence team have put forward another theory for Baby O's death.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025

The babies’ lips pursed into two round O’s.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

In 1988, he founded Luaka Bop, a record label whose influential compilations have introduced American audiences to lesser-known classics of world pop and psychedelia, such as Brazil’s Os Mutantes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

"The Dutch experience in my opinion offers a warning for Canada," Os cautioned.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

Kenia Os played up her cute and cuddly side in her previous album, 2024’s “Pink Aura” — but with her upcoming album “K de Karma,” out Friday, Os is putting that era to bed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026

Os achieved an international breakthrough with her visual album, 2022’s “K23.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026

She’d been fourteen, and her family had been summering on the coast of West Ravka, enjoying the seaside and performing in a carnival on the outskirts of Os Kervo.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

Like other Romance languages, Spanish divides most endings of nouns into masculine o’s or feminine a’s.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 12, 2021

Speaking in the same New Orleans twang as her students—those bouncy o’s and long, lingering a’s—Foster was teaching her fifth-graders about chemical reactions.

From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2016

Texting and Millennials The phone holds a million x’s and o’s.

From Forbes ● Jun. 5, 2013

Actual coaching — x’s and o’s — would become more important.

From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2011

It was almost perfect, just a fraction flatter and shakier than Betty Jean’s voice had been, the o’s and ah’s parodies of Betty Jean’s pretentious ones.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

Dreyfus pleased his friends no better than his :oes: he irked them by not becoming a "Dreyfusard."

From Time Magazine Archive

And from the shadow one by one Pick up the playful oes of sun?

From The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges by Robert Bridges

Illi robur et oes triplex, of which I believe no weapons of any assailant could get the better.

From Stories By English Authors: Italy (Selected by Scribners) by Laurence Oliphant

Dreig Arfon arfod wythlonedd Dragon diheufeirch heirddfeirch harddedd, Ni chaiff Sais i drais y droedfedd oi fro, Nid oes o Gymro i Gymrodedd.

From Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards by Evan Evans

The poet "mouthing out his hollow oes and aes" is, we are told, a good description of Tennyson's tone and manner of reading.

From The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by John Churton Collins

A new Longevity Preparedness Index from John Hancock and MIT AgeLab os based on a survey of over 1,300 adults and focused on eight areas such as finance, home, health and community.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025

She first broke through with 2016’s “Remonta,” an album she recorded with her former band Liniker e os Caramelows.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025

Ambos os programas são “fundamentais para entender a expansão agrícola no Brasil e as emissões de carbono do desmatamento na Amazônia,” diz Douglas Morton, especialista em sensoriamento remoto do Goddard Space Flight Center da NASA.

From Science Magazine ● May 26, 2022

Hours later, Kelly posts bail and os released from jail in Chicago.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2021

Newton disliked infinitesimals, the little os in his fluxion equations that sometimes acted like zeros and sometimes like nonzero numbers.

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

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