label

American  

[ley-buhl] / ˈleɪ bəl /

noun

labels plural

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 1. 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.

   2. 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.

6. 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.

7. Obsolete. a strip or narrow piece of anything.

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verb (used with object)

labels, present (3rd person singular) labeled, past participle, past labelled, past participle, past labeling, present participle labelling present participle

1. to affix a label to; mark with a label.

   The drawers have all been labeled with their contents.

2. to designate or describe by or on a label.

   The bottle was labeled poison.

3. 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.

4. Chemistry. Also to incorporate a radioactive or heavy isotope into (a molecule) in order to make traceable.

label British  

/ ˈleɪbəl /

noun

1. 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

2. 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

3. a word or phrase heading a piece of text to indicate or summarize its contents

4. a trademark or company or brand name on certain goods, esp, formerly, on gramophone records

5. another name for dripstone

6. 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

7. 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

8. chem a radioactive element used in a compound to trace the mechanism of a chemical reaction

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verb

1. to fasten a label to

2. to mark with a label

3. to describe or classify in a word or phrase

   to label someone a liar

4. to make (one or more atoms in a compound) radioactive, for use in determining the mechanism of a reaction

label Scientific  

/ lā′bəl /

1. See tracer

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• labeler
  noun
• labeller
  noun
• prelabel
  noun
• relabel
  verb (used with object)
• nonlabeling
  adjective
• nonlabelling
  adjective
• unlabeled
  adjective
• unlabelled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• labels
  plural

Participles

• labeling
  present
• labelling
  present
• labeled
  past
• labelled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• label
  simple
• labels
  simple
• have labeled
  perfect
• have labelled
  perfect
• has labeled
  perfect
• has labelled
  perfect
• am labeling
  progressive
• am labelling
  progressive
• are labeling
  progressive
• are labelling
  progressive
• is labeling
  progressive
• is labelling
  progressive
• have been labeling
  perfect progressive
• have been labelling
  perfect progressive
• has been labeling
  perfect progressive
• has been labelling
  perfect progressive

Past

• labeled
  simple
• labelled
  simple
• had labeled
  perfect
• had labelled
  perfect
• was labeling
  progressive
• was labelling
  progressive
• were labeling
  progressive
• were labelling
  progressive
• had been labeling
  perfect progressive
• had been labelling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will label
  simple
• will have labeled
  perfect
• will have labelled
  perfect
• will be labeling
  progressive
• will be labelling
  progressive
• will have been labeling
  perfect progressive
• will have been labelling
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

label labels labeled labelled labeling labelling

And since the pile-up of injuries hasn’t deterred women from buying the pants, it might just be that fashion victim is the real label of the summer.

From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026

Introduced after a bit of an arm-wrestle with the food industry, Nutri-Score is a voluntary front-of-pack label for pre-packaged food.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

Leibovich wrote: “That was the race in which McCain claimed that he never embraced the ‘maverick’ label, and people were asking, ‘What happened to John McCain?’

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026

Another label would identify “AI-assisted” tracks that were created primarily by humans but that used AI for some elements.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Leo pulls up beside us, and I slide a candle out of my waistband so he can see the label.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

As if landing a Disney film role wasn't enough, Sophie has already received four record deal offers from major labels.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

Maybe the pantry has an easier time earning our affection because it sits there so beautifully, all jars and tins and labels facing forward.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

"These labels will provide an immediately understandable and easily scalable approach to transparency."

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

Law enforcement also found materials, including pre-made labels, that could be used to create “dummy” books, according to the release.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

We wrap the labels in a little box with a bow on top.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

A Vermont agency twice labeled his application incomplete, and Bhakta pulled the plug on the project in September.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Aronowitz has called the increased litigation a “con game” that misleads judges, argued that such cases should go before a specialized court and labeled the whole enterprise a “scam.”

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

To make matters worse, the doctors whose patients contributed the most were featured, again without their prior knowledge, on a wall labeled “Best Doctors as Selected by Patients.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026

CBS also posted images on social media of crews unloading covered equipment labeled “Garden Party,” and other photos show a “40-inch mirror ball.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Inside are piles of file folders, stacked on end, lined up one after another, each one labeled, each one stuffed with paper, some more than others.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Kismet Kebabs advertised and labelled its lamb doner kebabs as being made with up to 87% lamb – depending on the kebab.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

When Lorraine asked for the DPS to investigate the actions of officers, she discovered she had been labelled internally as a "fixated complainant".

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Those giant kebab sticks were then labelled to suggest they were made with between 50% to 90% lamb, depending on the recipe.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

The team labelled up to half the data for the AI, teaching it "this is gibbon, this is not", said Ratha Sor.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

At Bilbo’s front door the old man began to unload: there were great bundles of fireworks of all sorts and shapes, each labelled with a large red G and the elf-rune.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Also, two months after Yuka's launch, the French government started its Nutri-Score labeling, external.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

This voluntary labeling system is designed for "broad, global adoption," including on streaming services.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

Clark’s family is currently requesting funds to return her remains to California, labeling the death as “a completely bizarre accident.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

It also expressly bars states from imposing requirements “for labeling or packaging in addition to or different from those required” by the agency.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 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

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

The court heard the council terminated its agreement with Kismet due to a "lack of operation" and "serious labelling and potential public health issues" found in a factory audit.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 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

“In contrast, all of the other statutory provisions governing the manufacture, bottling, and labelling of distilled spirits exist to facilitate collection of taxes associated with the activity.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026

In a nutshell, the problem with labelling anything ‘Romantic’ is that it has subsequently come to mean virtually anything, from the poetry of Lord Byron to the songs of Taylor Swift.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• company
• design
• logo
• number
• stamp
• sticker
• tag
• trademark