p
abbreviation
p
1 Americanabbreviation
p
2
American
abbreviation
P
3
American
[pee]
/ pi /
Or
p
noun
-
P's,
plural
-
Ps,
plural
-
p's,
plural
-
ps
plural
-
the sixteenth letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
-
any spoken sound represented by the letter P or p, as in pet, supper, top, etc.
-
something having the shape of a P .
-
a written or printed representation of the letter P or p.
-
a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter P or p.
P
4
American
abbreviation
-
Education. (as a rating of student performance) passing.
-
Chess. pawn.
-
Electronics. plate.
-
poor.
-
Grammar. predicate.
-
Protestant.
P
5
American
Symbol.
-
the 16th in order or in a series.
-
(sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 400.
-
Genetics. parental.
-
Chemistry. phosphorus.
-
Physics.
-
Chemistry. proton.
-
Biochemistry. proline.
p-
6
American
abbreviation
P-
7
American
abbreviation
p.
8
American
abbreviation
p.
9
American
abbreviation
p.
10
American
abbreviation
p.
11
American
abbreviation
-
page.
-
part.
-
participle.
-
past.
-
Chess. pawn.
-
penny; pence.
-
per.
-
Grammar. person.
-
peseta.
-
peso.
-
pint.
-
pipe.
-
Baseball. pitcher.
-
pole.
-
population.
-
president.
-
pressure.
-
purl.
P.
12
American
abbreviation
P.
13
American
abbreviation
-
pastor.
-
peseta.
-
peso.
-
post.
-
president.
-
pressure.
-
priest.
-
prince.
-
progressive.
P
1
British
symbol
-
chem phosphorus
-
physics
-
pressure
-
power
-
parity
-
poise
-
-
(on road signs) parking
-
chess pawn
-
currency
-
(the former) peseta
-
peso
-
pataca
-
pula
-
abbreviation
-
Portugal (international car registration)
-
pharmacy only: used to label medicines that can be obtained without a prescription, but only at a shop at which there is a pharmacist
p.
2
British
abbreviation
-
page
-
part
-
participle
-
past
-
per
-
post
-
pro
p
3
British
symbol
-
(in Britain) penny or pence
-
music piano: an instruction to play quietly
-
pico-
-
physics
-
momentum
-
proton
-
pressure
-
p
4
British
/ piː /
noun
-
the 16th letter and 12th consonant of the modern English alphabet
-
a speech sound represented by this letter, usually a voiceless bilabial stop, as in pig
-
to be careful to behave correctly and use polite or suitable language
p-
5
British
prefix
p
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of p1
From the Italian word piano
Origin of p.8
From the Latin word pater
Origin of p.9
From the Italian word piano
Origin of p.10
From the Latin word post
Origin of P.12
From the Latin word Pater
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:
Rajadhyaksha points out there is a “remarkably consistent pattern p st most geopolitical conflicts …of an initial shock…then a grind back as economic fundamentals reassert themselves.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
"It's political with a small p - there's enough that roots us in the real world but the world is too complicated to link it directly and I think it would be inappropriate."
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
It also recognizes “the fundamental role” of soccer’s international governing body, FIFA, and the important role of regional and national soccer federations, as well as relevant associations, in p romoting the game.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
They measured grass pollen counts and but also sampled air for the grass pollen Phl p 5 grass allergen protein in the same location at King's College London over the same time period.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 8, 2024
On the p of please, he spits out a packing peanut.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
Backyard gardeners like me know it as the P in N-P-K.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Test your knowledge of the English language: How many words can you create with the letters P, Y, C, R, O, and T?
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026
Under typical conditions, Po and So waves form when P and S waves scatter repeatedly through layered structures inside an oceanic plate.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
“More than anything, Tito Double P came across as a character, because that guy was totally crazy, he didn’t give a damn.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
“Let’s stay at a motel,” Mr. P said.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
“It’s awful hard to ask the girl, ‘Will you go to the p- pr- pr- prom with me?’
From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2022
The antiproton p- is u- u- d , for example.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
Transcriber's Note: The hyphen at the end of the third line of the second verse is deliberate in the original, so that "two p-" pronounced as one syllable rhymes with "soup."
From Songs From Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
It was p- pretty f-f-foggy when we got to the wharf, and we s-saw it wouldn't be s-safe for F-Father and M-M-Mother and B-Betty and Alice and the b-b-baby to go sailing, anyhow.
From The Voyage of the Hoppergrass by Edmund Lester Pearson
It was something like this: Man with p- Get- Br- We spelled it out slowly.
From The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart
The time between the P- and S-waves is routinely used to determine the distance to their source, the epicenter of the earthquake.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
Mantle rock is generally denser and stronger than crustal rock and both P- and S-waves travel faster through the mantle than they do through the crust.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
He will attempt this either by P- KB3 attacking White's centre or by P-KB4 preventing White from playing P-B5.
From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont
It is therefore necessary to play P- QB3 first.
From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont
The beginner, in his haste to advance the Pawn, will probably play P- e5 at once and lose the Pawn, as Black can answer Q-d4 check with simultaneous attack on the Pawn.
From Chess and Checkers : the Way to Mastership by Edward Lasker
When he states the obvious, the index is there to point this out for the reader: “Naples the Capital City of the Kingdom of Naples, p. 195.”
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2022
On Thursday at 1 p. m., a service will be held at Acacia Memorial Park in Lake Forest Park, with full military honors.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2022
Open Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p. m.,
From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2021
The District Court stayed its order pending appellate review on condition that review was sought before 4 p. m.,
From MSNBC ● Jul. 22, 2015
Opposite p., left: When the sun is not directly overhead, shadows of equal length are cast.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Meunier, now the P. B. Breneman Chair and head of the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Pennsylvania State University, is a co-corresponding author of the new study.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
Clinical geneticist Dr. Xiao P. Peng, who helped confirm Hinken’s family’s diagnoses, said the tools still make mistakes and are better at generating possible leads, translating complex medical jargon and compiling research than making diagnoses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
"An international wanted notice has been issued... for the head of the Telegram administration, P. Durov," it said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
In January, federal Judge Amit P. Mehta of the District of Columbia ordered the grants reinstated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
But my throat kept on making the sound while T. P. was pulling me.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
You’re on Peso Pluma and Tito Double P’s albums, and they’re featured on yours.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2025
After exhausting all of her options, she opened Ms. P’s Child and Family Services in the downtown Washington area to provide services to middle- and low-income families with disabled children.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2025
He got an office job in New York City, but by 1959 was managing Teddy P’s Lounge in Newark, N.J., a city then filled with jazz clubs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
“I was like, ‘This is going to be a 10-minute phone call, check my background, P’s and Q’s, whatever,’” UW director of social media Hadley Heck recalls of her job interview last summer.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2023
At Mr. P’s Tommy O’Brien had snuck up from behind to tug a braid.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
He can’t recall when or from whom he first heard the phrase, but ever since, the Five Ps have stuck with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
He has a rule of Three Ps “is it possible, plausible or probable?” to judge the merits of the argument.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 5, 2026
Two Ps for you; Marco Penge and John Parry venture onto the PGA Tour for the first time as members in 2026.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2026
The designers also introduced their new logo in various forms — two abstract letter Ps combined to form an S — on a black sweater, or as hardware on shoes, belts or bags.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2023
The inside was bright white, and through the window you could see a huge mural with two gold Ps in the middle.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
Viewed this way, minding our p’s and q’s is less about proscriptive notions of correctness, and more about mindfulness, self-discovery and proper conduct.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
From this we find a sample proportion, p', and graph it on the axis of p's.
From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017
In one message, he misspelled “tap” with two p’s!
From Washington Times ● Mar. 21, 2017
A gritty band of physicists and data specialists is locked in smash-mouth combat, a battle etched in p’s and chi’s.
From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2015
She snaps back, “Now, you just mind your own p’s and q’s there!”
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Meaningful employment prospects are weak. ps - May we please see the underlying assumptions on which these claims of full employment are based?
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2017
The standard normal distribution in probability, ps, corresponds to μ = 0 and σ = 1.
From Textbooks ● Mar. 30, 2016
For example, because of their lifetimes of about 1.5 ps and their production at the LHC with momenta between a few GeV/c and ~100 GeV/c, mesons travel up to a few centimetres before they decay.
From Nature ● May 12, 2015
He taught me the bs, ms and ps, and how to place your tongue on the top of your mouth.
From The Guardian ● May 7, 2010
Posterior to the blastopore 2 the primitive streak, ps, is seen as a collection of scattered cells between the ectoderm and the entoderm, apparently formed by proliferation from the ventral side of the ectoderm.
From Development of the Digestive Canal of the American Alligator by C. M. Reese
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.
