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:
“But we figured out that you should go out in the real world since it’s hard to get realistic data in a lab environment.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
AI lets researchers screen a million potentially useful materials a day, Entalpic co-founder Mathieu Galtier said, compared with perhaps 100 tests a year in a lab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
In a lab at the Center for DNA Identification in Hanoi last week, technicians carefully cut into bone fragments separated from remains to extract samples for DNA analysis.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
And now, the six year old lab joins her owner on the beaches to sniff it out.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
I read at lunch now, instead of going to the computer lab, and I read past bedtime, which is pushing me to sleep in a little later than sunrise.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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
Rocket Lab once again is delaying the maiden launch of its Neutron rocket, dealing a major blow to investors.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
This near-term copper discount relative to further-out futures is between 5% to 6% on an annualized rate, which is historically steep, according to Ilia Bouchouev, director of the Commodities Quant Lab at Carnegie Mellon University.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
However, "a general pause or deliberate slowdown in AI development remains outside the mainstream Chinese policy posture," Oxford China Policy Lab analysts wrote in September.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
But the tube failed on the day that Crocker came out to the Rad Lab to see it in action.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Assuming a bloom of virulent C. acnes was to blame, I hypothesized that recolonizing my skin microbiota with probiotic LAB could effectively treat my acne.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2025
As a zit-faced grad student, I started a new research project that used lactic acid bacteria, or LAB, as a method for food safety.
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
Looking back, Barak saw the decision to join LAB then as the right choice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2023
Almost the entire staff of what became the MIT AI LAB was involved with TMRC, and probably picked the word up there.
From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Eric S. Raymond
"It showed that the tool is not only for cells in the lab. It can be used as well in real living organisms."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 23, 2025
“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
"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
"We'd need a lab. Usually they replace the vanes after each mission."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
“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
We examine how AI labs are training employees to spot spies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
OpenAI’s investors had reportedly tried to compare its annualized revenue with that of rival Anthropic, but because the frontier labs calculate this number differently, that led to inconsistencies, according to the Financial Times.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Manus is an agent tool that can carry out real-world tasks for users -- currently a hot sector in global tech, with AI labs racing to release personal assistants.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
It is also sucking money away from government bonds toward the AI labs developing new models and “hyperscalers” building out data centers, adding further upward pressure on government bond yields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
They were under orders to grab important papers from German labs and capture top German physicists.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
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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.
