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• lab
  lab

  noun

  laboratory.
• Lab
  Lab

  noun

  Labrador retriever.
• LAB
  LAB

  abbreviation

  life’s a bitch (used to acknowledge, often dismissively, a difficult or unfair circumstance).
• lab.
  lab.

  abbreviation

  labor.
• Lab.
  Lab.

  abbreviation

  Laborite.

lab

¹ American  

[lab] / læb /

noun

1. laboratory.

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Lab ² American  

[lab] / læb /

noun

1. Informal. Labrador retriever.

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LAB ³ American  

Or lab

abbreviation

Slang.

1. life’s a bitch (used to acknowledge, often dismissively, a difficult or unfair circumstance).

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lab. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. labor.

2. laboratory.

3. laborer.

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Lab. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Laborite.

2. Labrador.

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Lab. ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. politics Labour

2. Labrador

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lab ² British  

/ læb /

noun

1. short for laboratory

2. short for Labrador retriever

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lab. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. laboratory

2. labour

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Etymology

Origin of lab¹

By shortening

Origin of Lab²

By shortening

Origin of LAB³

From its use in digital communications

Explanation

A lab is a room or building where science experiments, tests, and research are done. Most high schools have science labs for biology and chemistry classes. Lab is shorthand for laboratory, with its Medieval Latin root laboratorium, "a place for labor or work," from the Latin laborare, "to work." Many scientists and researchers go to work each day in a lab (often wearing a "lab coat," a white smock that protects their clothes). Some labs are equipped for studying the way plants grow and reproduce, while in others scientists study the brainwaves of human subjects or the traits of a virus. If you are a scientist, chances are you hang out in a lab.

Example Sentences

Using machine-learning models, Ms. Margulis’s lab measured music’s story-shaping power.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

Samples from those who have been contacted by health authorities will be sent to a high security lab in Glasgow for analysis.

From BBC • May 14, 2026

The stellar results come a day after Nebius announced it would add the core engineering and research team from AI lab Clarifai and license the company’s compute technology.

From Barron's • May 13, 2026

A startup led by the head of Google’s DeepMind artificial-intelligence lab is trying to use AI to accelerate the creation of new drugs — and it just raised a solid chunk of change from investors.

From MarketWatch • May 12, 2026

Coal took the bag and shuffled into the corner to put on his clothes under the lab coat.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Related Words

• workshop