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  • l
    l
    abbreviation
  • 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.


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.


L 3 American  
[el] / ɛl /

noun

Informal.
  • L's,
    plural
  • Ls
    plural
  1. an elevated railroad.


L 4 American  
[el] / ɛl /

noun

  • L's,
    plural
  • Ls
    plural
  1. ell.


L 5 American  

abbreviation

  1. British. pound; pounds.


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.


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.


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-).


l- 9 American  
Symbol, Optics, Chemistry, Biochemistry.
  1. levorotatory; levo- (distinguished from d-).


L- 10 American  

abbreviation

  1. Chemistry. levo-.

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

    L-15.


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.


L. 12 American  

abbreviation

  1. book.


L. 13 American  

abbreviation

  1. place.


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.


L. 1 British  

abbreviation

  1. lake

  2. left

  3. length

"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

l 2 British  

symbol

  1. litre

  2. physics lepton number

"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

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

    1. something shaped like an L

    2. ( in combination )

      an L-shaped room

"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

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

"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. Luxembourg (international car registration)

"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
l Scientific  
  1. Abbreviation of length, liter


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


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

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 best gift that I got was from Taylor, but it gives away things that we’re trying to keep in house, so not going to say it, and l love you Tay,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026

After endless reports of government deals, shortages, and capacity additions, investors can get back to some fundamento l data on Thursday afternoon.

From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025

"I had to pick Joel up early from drama club and I was like 'Joel l bumped into some people today - Harry, Danny, Dougie' and he said right away 'that's McFly'," she recalled.

From BBC ● May 4, 2025

“Oh, yes, you are l dead serious. You need to smile!”

From "Fish in a Tree" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

ABS challenges produce an infinitesimal W or L, a momentary shot of euphoria or thin slice of humble pie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

He is the first director to take consecutive Oscars since Joseph L.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

Investors have taken note of the trend: Last week, an L Catterton-led consortium said it would buy a majority stake in Hyrox.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

It offers a sports-themed way of approaching the topic, called GOALS, representing G: get ready; O: open the conversation; A: ask the question; L: listen and respond and S: support and signpost.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

Feeling playful, she used the edge of her thumbnail to press an L for “Lumley” into the soft wax, just as if she had her own personal seal.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

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

“I am bound for L-; at any rate, I am booked for that sea-port,” said my friend in reply.

From The Romany Rye by George Henry Borrow

Next day, the wind still continuing, I proposed a boating excursion and decoyed A-, L-, and S- into accompanying me.

From Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson

The two men learned in electricity, L- and W-, squabble where the fault is.

From Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson

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

Actually the presence of the subspecies C. l. dunni and C. l. lineatus as presently disjunct populations implies merely that they were presumably a continuous population at some time in the past.

From A Revision of Snakes of the Genus Conophis (Family Colubridae, from Middle America) by John Wellman

In response to an essay by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Nicholas L. Syrett about why it is so difficult to reform fraternities, readers debated the merits and deficiencies of the institution.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

“These responses are necessarily assumptions,” observes economist Jeffrey L. Hoopes of the University of North Carolina.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Friends of Slate Richard L. Revesz and Sarah Wheaton explain in Slate how a proposed regulation attempts to stop collecting race and ethnicity data, which could have wide-ranging implications for public health.

From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2026

"We see how Yersinia pestis splits into new branches during periods of conflict and spreads along the routes traveled by troops and displaced populations," said senior author Dr. Christiana L. Scheib.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

However, it was Clive Cussler, not Dirk Pitt, who made the recovery of long-lost treasures like the H. L. Hunley possible.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

There are two L’s in Collin and there are also two W’s — as in major championship victories at the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 British Open.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2025

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

The sixth version had a notation that it contained “Dr. L’s edits,” according to Politico.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2023

Magic Jay, Jimmy L’s secret agent name, was riffed from his favorite basketball player, the legendary Magic Johnson.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

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

Augustus and Isaac were sitting on the floor in gaming chairs shaped like lazy Ls, staring up at a gargantuan television.

From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

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

“A’s and e’s and l’s are tricky, because they could be lots of different letters,” Emma explained weakly, pointing to her own scribblings.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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

It ls already too late to save this year’s pantos, which many theaters rely on for essential income.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 30, 2020

Therefore the remnant ls, is equall to the remnant rs: And the whole rl, is the double of the same rs: And therefore er, is the double of eo: And rs, the double of ou.

From The Way To Geometry by William Bedwell

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