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• l
  l

  abbreviation

  large.
• L
  L

  noun

  the 12th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
• l-
  l-

  (of a molecule) having a configuration resembling the levorotatory isomer of glyceraldehyde: printed as a small capital, roman character (distinguished from D-).
• L-
  L-

  abbreviation

  levo-.
• l.
  l.

  abbreviation

  large.
• L.
  L.

  abbreviation

  book.

l

¹ American  

abbreviation

1. large.

2. liter; liters.

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L ² American  

[el] / ɛl /

Or l

noun

• L's,
  plural
• Ls,
  plural
• l's,
  plural
• ls
  plural

1. the 12th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter L or l, as in let, dull, cradle.

3. something having the shape of an L .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter L or l.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter L or l.

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L ³ American  

[el] / ɛl /

noun

Informal.

• L's,
  plural
• Ls
  plural

1. an elevated railroad.

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L ⁴ American  

[el] / ɛl /

noun

• L's,
  plural
• Ls
  plural

1. ell.

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L ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. British. pound; pounds.

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L ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. Optics. lambert; lamberts.

2. language.

3. large.

4. Latin.

5. left.

6. length.

7. long: denoting a size longer than regular, especially for suits and coats made for tall men.

   40L.

8. longitude.

9. Theater. stage left.

10. Economics. a broad measure of total U.S. liquid assets, issued periodically by the Federal Reserve Board.

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L ⁷ American  

Symbol.

1. the 12th in order or in a series.

2. (sometimes lowercase) the Roman numeral for 50.

3. Electricity. inductance.

4. Physics. kinetic potential.

5. Biochemistry. leucine.

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l- ⁸ American  

Symbol, Biochemistry.

1. (of a molecule) having a configuration resembling the levorotatory isomer of glyceraldehyde: printed as a small capital, roman character (distinguished from D-).

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l- ⁹ American  

Symbol, Optics, Chemistry, Biochemistry.

1. levorotatory; levo- (distinguished from d-).

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L- ¹⁰ American  

abbreviation

1. Chemistry. levo-.

2. U.S. Military. (in designations of light aircraft) liaison.

   L-15.

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l. ¹¹ American  

abbreviation

• ll.
  plural

1. large.

2. latitude.

3. law.

4. leaf.

5. league.

6. left.

7. length.

8. line.

9. link.

10. (in Italy) lira; lire.

11. liter; liters.

12. long.

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L. ¹² American  

abbreviation

1. book.

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L. ¹³ American  

abbreviation

1. place.

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L. ¹⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Lady.

2. Lake.

3. large.

4. Latin.

5. latitude.

6. law.

7. left.

8. lempira; lempiras.

9. leu; lei.

10. lev; leva.

11. Liberal.

12. (in Italy) lira; lire.

13. Lord.

14. Low.

15. lumen.

16. Theater. stage left.

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L. ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. lake

2. left

3. length

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l ² British  

symbol

1. litre

2. physics lepton number

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l ³ British  

/ ɛl /

noun

1. the 12th letter and ninth consonant of the modern English alphabet

2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually a lateral, as in label

3. 1. something shaped like an L

   2. ( in combination )

      an L-shaped room

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L ⁴ British  

symbol

1. ell (unit)

2. lambert(s)

3. large

4. Latin

5. (on British motor vehicles) learner driver

6. physics length

7. live

8. currency

   1. Usually written: £.  pound

   2. lempira

   3. lek

   4. leu

   5. lire

9. aeronautics lift

10. electronics inductor (in circuit diagrams)

11. physics latent heat

12. physics self-inductance

13. chem the Avogadro constant

14. 50 See Roman numerals

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abbreviation

1. Luxembourg (international car registration)

l Scientific  

1. Abbreviation of length, liter

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• L's
  plural
• Ls
  plural
• l's
  plural
• ls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of L⁵

From the Latin word lībra

Origin of L.¹²

From the Latin word liber

Origin of L.¹³

From the Latin word locus

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

l L L- l. L. L's Ls l's ls

“I felt as if l was this huge disappointment to both of them,” she told Vogue.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025

Morgan Stanley argues that more disclosure would be helpfu l to investors, and points to a measure of future contracted revenue called remaining performance obligations, or RPOs.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025

The actual Lisa Riley also posted on X: "PLEASE draw a line under this now, l am not offended, never was offended," she wrote.

From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2025

But I’m not good at writing, like, “I’m evil and I’m going to wake up and do evil today.” l don’t understand that psychology.

From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2024

Two more hallways follow; l am so disoriented I could never find my way hack.

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

It has been owned by private-equity firm L Catterton since 2023.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Looking to avoid an embarrassing L, the committee postponed the Blanche vote, which had been scheduled for Thursday.

From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026

Talks around Anderson's future were ongoing during the World Cup and an agreement was reached between Forest and City on the eve of England's Group L game against Panama.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

“The upgrade from the K Series to the L Series has been dramatic,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

I just didn’t want them to know Mr. Pignati had invited us over to his house the next day to give us the ten bucks for the L & J Fund.

From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel

Bacterial cell walls contain peptidoglycan, composed of polysaccharide chains that are cross-linked by unusual peptides containing both L- and D-amino acids including D-glutamic acid and D-alanine.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

L- shaped kitchen: One model unit — 308 — is 755 square feet, with one bedroom and one bathroom.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 25, 2019

After the experiments, L- said the fault might be ten miles ahead: by that time, we should be according to a chart in about a thousand fathoms of water - rather more than a mile.

From Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson

At last the guard returned; once more I was stowed away in the coach, my protector mounted his own seat, sounded his hollow horn, and away we rattled over the “stony street” of L-.

From Jane Eyre by F. H. Townsend

Mr. L-, who is very handsome and gentlemanly, eats ham and patronises a good breed of pigs on the ‘model farm’ on which he spends his money. 

From Letters from the Cape by Lady Lucie Duff Gordon

Hay gold-plated Phi scissors, 9" l.; $40. nest.co.uk, 011-44-1225-461-409 Paola C. Tulip carafe by Aldo Cibic, 8" w. x 5" d. x 9.5" h.;

From Architectural Digest ● Dec. 1, 2014

Marcum also has his eye on the integration of YouTube and Google+, which he believes “will change things.” l. to r.

From Forbes ● Nov. 13, 2013

Surprisingly, he also cited SlideShare as “one of the biggest opportunities for B-to-B marketers.” l. to r.

From Forbes ● Nov. 13, 2013

What she was, must be uncertain; but who she was, might be found out; and setting aside the 10,000 l., it did not appear that she was at all Harriet’s superior.

From "Emma" by Jane Austen

Your affectionate father, John H. Peyton. john l. peyton to his mother.

From Memoir of John Howe Peyton in sketches by his contemporaries, together with some of his public and private letters, etc., also a sketch of Ann M. Peyton by Various

The doctrine at the center of all this has a name: the Purcell principle, a term coined by Slate contributor Richard L. Hasen after a 2006 case, Purcell v.

From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026

Graydon’s real name, federal authorities said, was Ronald L. Fischer, and he was a Rhode Island fugitive who used more than a dozen aliases to avoid capture for more than 20 years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

"When we stimulated one bipolar cell, many bipolar cells released neurotransmitters," says Z. Jimmy Zhou, PhD, Marvin L. Sears Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and principal investigator.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

His survivors include his wife, along with their three daughters—Kim L. Targoff, Becky T. Peterson and Karen L. Leibowitz, all medical doctors—and eight grandchildren.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

The one where Mr. Luigi L. Lemoncello himself would announce the winners of the Library Lock-In Essay Contest.

From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein

The Trojans erased one of those potential L’s in their season-opening win over Louisana State in Las Vegas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2024

Storm fans aren’t used to slogging through a season drenched in L’s.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024

In the hours that followed Letby's arrival, Baby L's glucose levels fell abnormally low and he had to be given additional doses of glucose in an attempt to correct the hypoglycaemia.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2023

“This is one of the biggest L’s that we have ever watched a human take in business and in music, and it was all self-inflicted,” Charlamagne said.

From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2022

The Sorting continued; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving one by one to the four-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly as Professor McGonagall passed the L’s.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

Beware the three Ls: leverage, liquidity and lunacy.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 7, 2025

He said the committee also did not ignore lopsided losses: Two of Kansas’ seven Ls came in March to Texas, a No. 2 seed, by 16 and 20 points.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 12, 2023

“If we can string a couple wins together — and I think we’ve been playing good basketball, even with some of the Ls that we’ve had,” LeBron James said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2023

“Our schedule gets no easier, so we have to get better quickly. If we don’t, the Ls are going to start piling up.”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 25, 2022

The hinges on the cabinets were Ls, the water faucets were Xs, the burners on the stove stood up on neat N legs.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett

Linkedln: If you try to post a profile here, clearly you didn’t check your I’s and l’s to watch for phishing sites, so you don’t deserve a cybersecurity job anyway.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2022

Curving columns of lower-case l’s make the sides of the face.

From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2020

My 2-year-old daughter Claudia cannot articulate r’s or l’s properly and falls asleep sucking on the ear of a putrid stuffed sheep.

From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2015

Or ‘you are sooo ugly’ — but with 10 u’s, 10 g’s, 10 l’s, like they’re all screaming it at someone.”

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2010

I unplugged Rover 2's battery and plugged in Rover l's.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

A call for the British Museum to return Chinese artefacts after the recent theft of about 2,000 items ls heating up social media in the country.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2023

In Spanish, double ls are pronounced like y.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 3, 2023

Simpson, wearing a Bills wool hat, recalled how the Bills went 1-17 against Miami during his career in Buffalo, spanning 1969-77, before adding, "My Bi ls are going to kick their butts today."

From Fox News ● Oct. 31, 2021

Simpson, wearing a Bills wool hat, recalled how the Bills went 1-17 against Miami during his career in Buffalo, spanning 1969-77, before adding, “My Bi ls are going to kick their butts today.”

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2021

For example, ls man? would find a file called mane, but not one called manual.

From Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet by Electronic Frontier Foundation