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Synonyms

lab

1 American  
[lab] / læb /

noun

  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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lab 2 British  
/ læb /

noun

  1. short for laboratory

  2. short for Labrador retriever

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lab. 3 British  

abbreviation

  1. laboratory

  2. labour

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

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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.

And it was in the lab, and it was on the way.

From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026

Meanwhile, a Mondelez-backed Israeli start-up, Celleste Bio, said this week that it produced chocolate bars from cells grown in a lab.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

A leaked memo this week showed that the AI lab sees its relationship with Amazon as part of a plan to win over enterprise customers.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026

"Physiologically, macrophages can handle cholesterol metabolism," said Ivan Salladay-Perez, first author of the new study and a graduate student in the Covarrubias lab.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2026

“Later. After school or something. Last thing you need is a teacher seeing that. Or anyone, really. You will be in a lab under somebody’s microscope so fast...”

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

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.