lab
noun
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lab
1 American
[lab]
/ læb /
noun
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
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.
"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
"We used to have on average 10 applicants daily at our government analytical lab. We are now averaging 100 daily and the numbers are still increasing," he added.
From BBC • Aug. 4, 2023
“I’m carrying around urine bottles and sending them to the lab. And within 48 hours, we had the answer to our question.”
From Seattle Times • Jul. 15, 2022
“We had a very limited amount of the Cobalt Blue Orchids, Nats, and they’re very delicate—we had to keep all of them in the lab. We couldn’t have given any away.”
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
Definitions 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.
