laptop
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of laptop
Explanation
Laptop is short for laptop computer. The big computer on your desk is a desktop, and the small one on your lap is a laptop. See what they did there? Now shoo that lapdog and get to work! There are other kinds of portable computers, but a laptop usually has a screen that folds over the keyboard when you’re not using it. The earliest versions of laptops were made in the 1970s, and they've become lighter, thinner, more portable, and much more popular since then. The word laptop was coined in 1984, based on — you guessed it — desktop, which describes the heavier, non-portable computer.
Vocabulary lists containing laptop
Computer Science and Technology - Introductory
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Units 2–3
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Computer Terms
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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.
Watts, 22, said he had parked and left his vehicle for about 20 minutes when an opportunist smashed a window and found the laptop bag under his seat at Howard Place, Cardiff, on Tuesday night.
From BBC • Jul. 2, 2026
You must be able to read and respond to work-related correspondence in a timely fashion, which means you need access to your phone, laptop and a wifi signal or hotspot.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 30, 2026
He said one of those concessions should be access to a laptop with the 20,000 documents, or half-terabyte, of trial materials, including transcripts, witness interviews and exhibits.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 29, 2026
Even the MacBook Neo, which was introduced this year as Apple’s lowest priced laptop ever, has a new price tag of $699, a $100 increase.
From Barron's • Jun. 25, 2026
The only exception was that each team was permitted one laptop for work on the project, but it had to be handed over to be scanned, debugged, and approved for use.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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.
