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:
The SEC yield is based on a Securities and Exchange Commission formula, which you can view in detail on p.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
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
Earlier research has shown that plasma p tau217 closely reflects the buildup of amyloid and tau in the brain, as seen on PET scans.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026
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
On the p of please, he spits out a packing peanut.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
This is coming from someone who owes his fame to the digital age, after making his name with comic videos as characters like upper-class drill rapper Unknown P and chef Jonny Oliver.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
“It was ‘art’—theater and absurd all at the same time,” recalls Susan P.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 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
The laws of science that govern the behavior of matter under all normal situations are unchanged under the combination of the two operations C and P on their own.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
“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 something like this: Man with p- Get- Br- We spelled it out slowly.
From The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart
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
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
The logical course was to open the way to the King's side for the Rooks by P- K4.
From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont
There was Thomson, there was my testing board, the strings of gutta-percha; Harry P- even, battering with the batteries; but where was my darling Annie?
From Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson
To be considered are P- B4 and B-KKt5.
From Chess Strategy by J. Du Mont
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
Tours: Tuesday through Saturday from 12:45 p.m. to 3 p. m., subject to availability.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 7, 2019
Police received a call shortly before 8:30 p. m.
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2018
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
MarketWatch’s Isabel Wang and Myra P. Saefong have an explanation of why relief may not be coming soon.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026
When cosmetics billionaire William P. Lauder bought Rush Limbaugh’s Palm Beach estate for $155 million, it featured a 24,000-square-foot main house with a salon modeled after Versailles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
The name was technically an Easter egg: Pasqually P. Pieplate is the chef in Chuck E. Cheese’s animatronic house band.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
The research received support from the National Institutes of Health, the Edward P. Evans Foundation, Blood Cancer United, and other partners focused on advancing blood cancer research.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
Doug P. made up a bunch of stuff about horses in case you didn’t figure it out.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
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
The Venezuelan journalist Moisés Naím identified the three P’s as the standard playbook of 21st century autocrats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
The TikToker continued by referencing lyrics from Master P’s 1997 rap hit and Vandross’ 1981 soul ballad “A House Is Not a Home.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 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
And the kids who had rallied at Mr. P’s disappeared as silently as dandelion heads in the breeze.
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
You need the three Ps: patience, paperwork and perseverance.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
"Ps sorry to hear about the toilet but glad it is fixed," they jokingly added.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 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
Meanwhile, I minded my p’s and q’s—aka be little Miss Perfect.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2021
“It was an experience. I had to watch my p’s and q’s. If not, I’d hear about it,” Celebrezze told former Justice Patrick Fischer as part of an oral history project on the court.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 4, 2021
From this we find a sample proportion, p', and graph it on the axis of p's.
From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017
In no time the house smelled like spaghetti and fish sticks, instead of the chewy and mushy three p's Clayton’s mother left for them: pork chops, peas, and potatoes.
From "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground" by Rita Williams-Garcia
In the early months after Goldberg’s death, Sandberg says she made the three classic mistakes – “the three ps – personalisation, pervasiveness and permanence”.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 16, 2017
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
There were the same unfinished phrases, ended by "ps, ps, ps," muttered between the teeth, expressions like "What's its name?"
From The Nabob by W. Blaydes
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
