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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

plural

pas

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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Etymology

Origin of pas

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

Example Sentences

When a nameless secretary drops a sheaf of papers, Kornev’s response to help is instinctive, yet we cringe at the careless faux pas he commits in this unfeeling society.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 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

Steve Carell’s character in the likable, watchable and even lovable “Rooster” is classic Steve Carell: Self-aware, charming, boyish, incapable of reading a room, sidestepping a faux pas or calculating nuance.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

The Reverend Spooner made an embarrassing faux pas.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner