lab
noun
lab
1 American
[lab]
/ læb /
noun
-
labs
plural
Lab
2
American
[lab]
/ læb /
noun
LAB
3
American
Or
lab
abbreviation
Slang.
lab.
4
American
abbreviation
-
labor.
-
laboratory.
-
laborer.
Lab.
5
American
abbreviation
-
Laborite.
-
Labrador.
Lab.
1
British
abbreviation
-
politics Labour
-
Labrador
lab
2
British
/ læb /
noun
-
short for laboratory
-
short for Labrador retriever
lab.
3
British
abbreviation
-
laboratory
-
labour
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
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:
Yet somehow he’s wound up making a science lab romance with no chemistry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The new lab will support current research through Cumbria Connect, whose work and scientific monitoring spans Wild Haweswater, the Lowther estate and the Lowther Valley.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
So the flat, straight stretch of I-45 between Dallas and Houston is serving as a lab for dozens of driverless big rigs, some without human drivers and others with one riding along, just in case.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
"The animal experiments allowed us to move beyond association," says co-first author Prabesh Bhattarai, an associate research scientist in the Kizil lab.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
Kendrick is also my lab partner—we were assigned—but I can’t think for the life of me how or why class today is going to be “epic.”
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
Rolander is a research engineer in the Fabrication Lab at the Harold A. Miller Library at Hopkins Marine Station, which belongs to the Doerr School of Sustainability.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
The company’s Dream Lab occupies a 7,000 square feet space and employs a team of 13.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
“The big driver is really much more about consumption patterns,” said Jeff Colgan, director of the Climate Solutions Lab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Once that’s done, Rocket Lab should be able to announce a new target launch date.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
We were supposed to go to the Creativity Lab to build robots, design cars, and make flocks of birds fly by touching the wall.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
It’s worth mentioning that LAB is an umbrella term for a group of bacteria that share certain characteristics, with the most notable being their ability to produce lactic acid.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2025
While I wasn’t particular about brands, my main criterion was that the label indicated “live cultures,” which means that each gram contained at least 10 million LAB cells.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2025
This difference in water content between the two layers constituting the LAB can explain the sharp velocity drops as well as the near constant attenuation observed over a wide frequency range in the asthenosphere.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2023
Following five years as a dancer at LAB, Barak launched her own company in 2013.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2023
LAB, s. a stroke; a blow; a lump.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume XXIV. by Alexander Leighton
"This question did not start in the lab. It started in conversations with beekeepers," Baer said.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 20, 2026
“This is the zoo lab. This would be the botanist’s room on the Beagle,” he said.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2025
“If you see how our plant is going to operate, it’s like a lab. So we need a lot of young talented people.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2023
“It was Frank Lloyd Wright’s lab. That makes it a space for life and creativity.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
She telephoned her husband and said to him, “Karl, you’d better come quick to the lab. Fred has looked at a specimen, and he’s got worms.”
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
“There’s no limits for the Do Lab. It’s a good escape from everything else and it’s always the perfect vibe at sunset,” said Bocanegra.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2025
BlackSky, the launch customer, retweeted Rocket Lab’s statement, saying: “This is what we have received from Rocket Lab. We will continue to offer updates as we learn more.”
From The Verge ● May 15, 2021
“I’m working with my students and staff to move my work out of the Media Lab. That might involve moving to another part of MIT. It might mean moving elsewhere,” he told the newspaper.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 21, 2019
Through Aug. 12 at the Kennedy Center’s Theater Lab. $49-$59. 202-467-4600 or kennedy-center.org.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 26, 2018
“Big problem, though. The memory serum virus is in the Weapons Lab. The one Nita just tried—and failed—to break into.”
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
San Francisco public health officials said the Script botanicals x Maui labs product packaging did not make a reference to kratom or 7-OH; however, neither were associated with the overdose death.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
In September, a researcher resigned from Anthropic with a stark warning that leading AI labs were "gambling with our lives", and the bosses of Anthropic and fellow industry giant OpenAI have called for a slowdown.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
Hassabis says the leaders are in regular conversation about what they see inside the labs, despite the vicious personal rivalries of the humans leading the most valuable AI companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Frontier AI labs and new-age cloud providers are seeing negative free cash flow, and it doesn’t help that data-center server prices are increasing due to rising memory prices, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
To get to work, scientists struggled through the mud to the half-finished Tech Area, which housed labs and offices and was surrounded by another fence, nine feet high, with barbed wire strung along the top.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
