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• pas
  pas

  noun

  a step or series of steps in ballet.
• PA's
  PA's

  plural noun

  mountaineering a type of rock boot
• PAS
  PAS

  abbreviation

  physician-assisted suicide: a practice in which a terminally-ill person requests a medical practitioner to administer a lethal dose of medication

pas

American  

[pah] / pɑ /

noun

1. a step or series of steps in ballet.

2. right of precedence.

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pas ¹ British  

/ pɑ, pɑː /

noun

1. a dance step or movement, esp in ballet

2. rare the right to precede; precedence

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PA's ² British  

plural noun

1. mountaineering a type of rock boot

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PAS ³ British  

abbreviation

1. physician-assisted suicide: a practice in which a terminally-ill person requests a medical practitioner to administer a lethal dose of medication

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• pas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pas

1695–1705; < French < Latin passus. See pace ¹

Example Sentences

It is a pas de deux of contrasts—roughness and polish, hardness and softness, danger and safety.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

She was quick to try to clean up her faux pas, claiming she had skipped over the section because her statement was running long, but no one believed it.

From Salon • Mar. 22, 2026

On this week’s Slate Plus exclusive, Timothée Chalamet enters the pas de deux between an Oscar-nominated actor and a public itching for a villain.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

These comparisons aren’t exactly nuanced but they are stark and, for most of the film, Franco just asks us to watch them move together and apart, in a strange, avoidant pas de deux.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

The faux pas slipped out when Francis mentioned Griffith’s calculations.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson