Jump To:

• 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

labs plural

1. laboratory.

---

Lab ² American  

[lab] / læb /

noun

1. Informal. Labrador retriever.

---

LAB ³ American  

Or lab

abbreviation

Slang.

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

---

lab. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. labor.

2. laboratory.

3. laborer.

---

Lab. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Laborite.

2. Labrador.

---

Lab. ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. politics Labour

2. Labrador

---

lab ² British  

/ læb /

noun

1. short for laboratory

2. short for Labrador retriever

---

lab. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. laboratory

2. labour

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• labs
  plural

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

"The fun part of this story is when Pattra joined my lab," Alder said.

From Science Daily • Jul. 1, 2026

Chesky will remain chief executive of Airbnb and will not take a central role leading the new lab, according to Bloomberg.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2026

For instance, six NHS trusts in England declared a critical incident last week after hot weather adversely affected their IT systems, scanners, and cancer and lab equipment.

From BBC • Jul. 1, 2026

Meta Platforms is reportedly exploring a new avenue of artificial-intelligence monetization, raising questions about whether Meta is throwing in the towel on being a leading AI lab or, rather, catapulting its business ahead.

From MarketWatch • Jul. 1, 2026

But I don’t want to see her after our fight yesterday, to have to avoid her and go sit somewhere by myself, so instead I go to the computer lab, like I used to.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Related Words

• workshop