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:
"This study highlights why it's so important for a molecular technology development lab like ours to keep looking to nature for inspiration," Shipman says.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
Once the mapping data is collected, it can be processed in real time aboard the ship, transmitted to a lab on land via satellite or analyzed after the ship returns to port.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Caltech is also remaking how the lab does business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Before AI, scientists had to conduct time-consuming experiments in the lab.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
With the whole family looking at him, he suddenly felt like a lab specimen.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
The fossils were uncovered during expeditions in 2023 and 2024 by researchers from the Sallam Lab at Wadi Moghra, a well-known fossil site in northern Egypt.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2026
One Chinese ship, the Ke Xue, was active this summer near undersea cables northeast and southwest of Taiwan, said Jose M. Macias III, an associate fellow at CSIS’s Futures Lab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Election Lab figures showed Democrats making up around 44 percent of early voters in those states, compared with 31 percent for Republicans and 25 percent for unaffiliated or minor-party voters.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
Data from the University of Florida Election Lab indicates that four to five million early votes have been cast each day, representing a much higher rate than in most previous elections.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
“Tris went into the Weapons Lab instead of Caleb,” Cara says.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
Basically, the idea was to explore how LAB could be used to colonize a food environment in order to prevent the outgrowth of spoilage or pathogenic bacteria.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2025
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
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
“I want people to see that LAB is on the road to establishing itself not only as L.A.’s major dance company but also becoming one of the country’s leading dance companies,” Barak said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2023
For a commercial establishment, the LAB was not considerate of potential clients.
From Forget Me Nearly by F. L. (Floyd L.) Wallace
"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
“It was Frank Lloyd Wright’s lab. That makes it a space for life and creativity.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
The message goes on to say "we've got a courier going to their family home tonight, child will take the test, and courier will take it straight to the lab. Should have result tomorrow am".
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2023
“I have more important things to worry about than hair. I need to get my T. melvinus out of the lab. It’s what helped me sort out the mechanism for reversing senescence.”
From "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jennifer L. Holm
“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
AI ethicists have dismissed attempts to treat AI systems as autonomous agents as creative ways for the AI labs to skirt accountability for the harm their software causes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
Huang has defended the approach, arguing that frontier AI labs are the first generation of startups that need tens of billions of dollars to get started, not just millions.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
Even though some were discovered in scientific labs and tested in animals, none have gone through rigorous clinical trials in the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Two other ADCs that came from AstraZeneca’s own labs, puxi-sam and torvu-sam, are being tested in late-stage trials and the company has more in early-stage development.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
There was no one in the labs, and Javier went in the opposite direction.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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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.
