label
Americannoun
-
labels
plural
-
a slip of paper, cloth, or other material, marked or inscribed, for attachment to something to indicate its manufacturer, nature, ownership, destination, etc..
The medicine bottle should have a label on it with the dosing instructions.
-
a short word or phrase descriptive of a person, group, intellectual movement, etc..
The label “progressive” can be used to describe many different political movements.
-
a word or phrase indicating that what follows belongs in a particular category or classification.
The label “Formal” marks words used in academic or business contexts.
-
Architecture. a molding or dripstone over a door or window, especially one that extends horizontally across the top of the opening and vertically downward for a certain distance at the sides.
-
-
a brand or trademark under which something, such as clothing or music, is manufactured and sold.
She records under her own label.
Chanel has launched a new label for ready-to-wear couture.
-
the manufacturer using such a label.
All the big-name labels will have a runway show during Fashion Week.
Major labels are feeling the economic crunch and are no longer signing small acts or individual musicians.
-
-
Heraldry. a narrow horizontal strip with a number of downward extensions of rectangular or dovetail form, usually placed in chief as the cadency mark of an eldest son.
-
Obsolete. a strip or narrow piece of anything.
verb (used with object)
-
labels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
labeled,
past participle, past
-
labelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
labeling,
present participle
-
labelling
present participle (especially British)
-
to affix a label to; mark with a label.
The drawers have all been labeled with their contents.
-
to designate or describe by or on a label.
The bottle was labeled poison.
-
to put in a certain class; classify.
It's easy to label someone as difficult and stop trying, but curiosity and compassion can often get you further.
-
Chemistry. Also to incorporate a radioactive or heavy isotope into (a molecule) in order to make traceable.
noun
-
a piece of paper, card, or other material attached to an object to identify it or give instructions or details concerning its ownership, use, nature, destination, etc; tag
-
a brief descriptive phrase or term given to a person, group, school of thought, etc
the label "Romantic" is applied to many different kinds of poetry
-
a word or phrase heading a piece of text to indicate or summarize its contents
-
a trademark or company or brand name on certain goods, esp, formerly, on gramophone records
-
another name for dripstone
-
heraldry a charge consisting of a horizontal line across the chief of a shield with three or more pendants: the charge of an eldest son
-
computing a group of characters, such as a number or a word, appended to a particular statement in a program to allow its unique identification
-
chem a radioactive element used in a compound to trace the mechanism of a chemical reaction
verb
-
to fasten a label to
-
to mark with a label
-
to describe or classify in a word or phrase
to label someone a liar
-
to make (one or more atoms in a compound) radioactive, for use in determining the mechanism of a reaction
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
labelernoun
-
labellernoun
-
prelabelnoun
-
relabelverb (used with object)
-
nonlabelingadjective
-
nonlabellingadjective
-
unlabeledadjective
-
unlabelledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
labelsimple
-
labelssimple
-
have labeledperfect
-
have labelledperfect
-
has labeledperfect
-
has labelledperfect
-
am labelingprogressive
-
am labellingprogressive
-
are labelingprogressive
-
are labellingprogressive
-
is labelingprogressive
-
is labellingprogressive
-
have been labelingperfect progressive
-
have been labellingperfect progressive
-
has been labelingperfect progressive
-
has been labellingperfect progressive
Past
-
labeledsimple
-
labelledsimple
-
had labeledperfect
-
had labelledperfect
-
was labelingprogressive
-
was labellingprogressive
-
were labelingprogressive
-
were labellingprogressive
-
had been labelingperfect progressive
-
had been labellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of label
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Middle French: “ribbon,” perhaps from Germanic; cf. lap 1
Explanation
The saying “labels are for jars not people” means it’s OK to put a description on a jar so you know what’s inside (a label), but it’s not okay to judge people by attaching a label, or description to them, such as "nerd," "jock," or "burnout." Label is a busy word. It refers to the paper or identifying marks on a jar that tells you something about what’s inside the jar. Put such an identifier on the jar, and you label it. Related to that is a judgment about someone or something, a label. When you call yourself a superstar, you label yourself. Finally, you can use label as a short form of recording label, a company that produces musical recordings.
Vocabulary lists containing label
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 1
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 5
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The label also read: “We are also committed to inter-family relationships that reflect trust, respect and diplomatic candor.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
She also thinks researchers might need to create "a label that doesn't exist yet" for some people who've been told they're autistic.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Voters were asked whether each label made them more inclined or less inclined to back a given candidate, or if they believed there was not much difference or had no opinion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
As the live narrator of the event, he also connects to Valens’ L.A. legacy, as the star recorded his big hits in L.A. label Del-Fi Records’ Silver Lake studio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
He licked the back of the label and stuck it on the jar.
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
Companies offered to attach warning labels near the handles for free, and some said they would remotely upgrade software involving lowering windows after a crash.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Finding new markets has become more imperative as competition intensifies for Chinese beauty labels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Like a mass awakening, labels and executives began courting them, making offers that were unimaginable just a few years earlier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The labels shift depending on what’s happening in the broader culture.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
A few schoolbooks have just arrived, and I brought a large supply of notebooks, pencils, erasers and labels from home.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
During a recent AI training session for educators in South Carolina, an AI-generated world map misspelled Mali as “Mail,” labeled Egypt “Sopth” and replaced Libya with a country simply called “Africa.”
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
Images of Air Force One parked at the Turkish airport show vehicles labeled with the logo of a catering company called Turkish DO & CO.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
"Some cases previously labeled as congenital syphilis may represent entirely different diseases."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
A faster-growing real GDP without job creation would be labeled a false productivity boom, says the investment strategist.
From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026
High-strung and unpredictable, the prison warden labeled him a "troublemaker."
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
Zhu, meanwhile, once labelled rogue bankers as "half-wits" and described the flood dykes lining the Yangtze River as "flimsy and porous as tofu dregs".
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
In June, Australia's government reported six cases of acute liver injury linked to products labelled Retatrutide.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
He was first cast out during the "Hundred Flowers Campaign" in the 1950s, when his criticism of Mao's "irrational" economic policies saw him labelled a "rightist".
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Van Dijk labelled Ndukwe a "big talent" after playing alongside him in the first half against Monaco.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
From eighteen hundred bottles eighteen hundred carefully labelled infants were simultaneously sucking down their pint of pasteurized external secretion.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Her efforts led the antivirus software Kaspersky to begin flagging the tools known as stalkerware as a privacy threat to its customers instead of labeling it as benign.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
It reported sales that topped $1 billion, with CEO and founder KR Sridhar labeling Bloom a “standard for AI onsite power.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
While labeling Mr. Swaim’s column as “slanted,” no facts to dispute his account were presented.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Also, two months after Yuka's launch, the French government started its Nutri-Score labeling, external.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
A tall boy with wavy hair is facing a short girl, black crayon labeling them as Will and Stella.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
But Pyongyang has rejected his overtures, labelling Seoul its "most hostile" enemy and declaring itself an "irreversible" nuclear state.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
The announcement comes after North Korea has repeatedly spurned South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's dovish overtures, labelling Seoul its "most hostile" enemy and declaring itself an "irreversible" nuclear state.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi echoed his coach's thoughts, labelling his side's situation a "disaster".
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
In briefings to local media, government sources have been more critical, labelling the rumours "wild speculation" -- in German, "wueste Spekulation", a word play seen as a veiled dig at Merz's potential challenger, Wuest.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
The living-room; what a good job of labelling that was now.
From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
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.
