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O
Onounthe fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
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o'
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O'
O'a prefix meaning “descendant,” in Irish family names.
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o-
o-an abridgment of ortho-.
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-o
-oa suffix occurring as the final element in informal shortenings of nouns (ammo; combo; condo; limo; promo ); -o also forms nouns, usually derogatory, for persons or things exemplifying or associated with that specified by the base noun or adjective (cheapo; pinko; sicko; weirdo; wino ).
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o.
o.abbreviationpint.
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-o-
-o-the typical ending of the first element of compounds of Greek origin (as -i- is, in compounds of Latin origin), used regularly in forming new compounds with elements of Greek origin and often used in English as a connective irrespective of etymology.
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O.
O.abbreviation(in prescriptions) a pint.
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o
onounthe 15th letter and fourth vowel of the modern English alphabet
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O'-
O'-prefix(in surnames of Irish Gaelic origin) descendant of
O
1 Americannoun
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O's,
plural
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Os,
plural
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o's,
plural
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os,
plural
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oes
plural
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the fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
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any spoken sound represented by the letter O or o, as in box, note, short, or love .
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something having the shape of an O .
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a written or printed representation of the letter O or o.
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a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter O or o.
interjection
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(used before a name in direct address, especially in solemn or poetic language, to lend earnestness to an appeal).
Hear, O Israel!
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(used as an expression of surprise, pain, annoyance, longing, gladness, etc.)
noun
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O's
plural
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the fifteenth in order or in a series.
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the Arabic cipher; zero.
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(sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 11.
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Physiology. a major blood group, usually enabling a person whose blood is of this type to donate blood to persons of group O, A, B, or AB and to receive blood from persons of group O.
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Chemistry. oxygen.
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Logic. particular negative.
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a suffix occurring as the final element in informal shortenings of nouns (ammo; combo; condo; limo; promo ); -o also forms nouns, usually derogatory, for persons or things exemplifying or associated with that specified by the base noun or adjective (cheapo; pinko; sicko; weirdo; wino ).
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a suffix occurring in colloquial noun or adjective derivatives, usually grammatically isolated, as in address.
cheerio; kiddo; neato; righto.
abbreviation
abbreviation
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octavo.
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off.
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old.
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only.
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order.
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Baseball. out; outs.
abbreviation
abbreviation
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Ocean.
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octavo.
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October.
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Ohio.
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Old.
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Ontario.
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Oregon.
symbol
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chem oxygen
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a human blood type of the ABO group See universal donor
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logic a particular negative categorial proposition, such as some men are not married: often symbolized as SoP Compare A E I 2
abbreviation
noun
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the 15th letter and fourth vowel of the modern English alphabet
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any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in code, pot, cow, move, or form
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another name for nought
interjection
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a variant spelling of oh
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an exclamation introducing an invocation, entreaty, wish, etc
O God!
O for the wings of a dove!
prefix
suffix
prefix
preposition
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of O2
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ō
Origin of o'5
From Middle English; by shortening
Origin of O'6
Representing Irish ó descendant, Old Irish au
Origin of -o10
Perhaps originally the interjection O, appended to words as in -o def. 2; as a derivational suffix reinforced by clipped forms of words with -o- as a linking element (e.g., photo, stereo ), by Rom nouns ending in o, and by personal nouns such as bimbo and bozo, of obscure origin
Origin of o.11
From the Latin word octārius
Origin of -o-13
Middle English (< Old French ) < Latin < Greek
Origin of O.14
From the Latin word octārius
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:
Dr Labhrás O Murchú from CCÉ said the event was "unprecedented".
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Up until the Big O, I’ve lived by that rule.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 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
The exhibition "Hkeeli ya Jnoub", or "Tell me, O South", features pictures and videos preserving the memory of southern Lebanon at the capital's Beit Beirut museum.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
I see some mouths open in O shapes and someone makes the dreaded Ooooooh sound.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
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Hobro said they were often mistaken for Portuguese man o' war but were much smaller, "brighter blue" and "generally harmless".
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
“Coffee badging”—going to the office just long enough to show your face and grab a cup o’ joe—was a popular workaround.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
These sea snails are also voracious predators themselves and feast upon free-floating hydrozoan such as Velella velella and Portuguese man o’ war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
Any way you slice it, this week’s Slate News Quiz is a piece o’ fun.
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2024
“Hey, it’s almost halftime. We got a roomful o’ guys gonna come running out here for burgers soon.”
From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds
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Former basketball player Shaquille O’ Neal is also a high-profile investor.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 19, 2025
But Heart O’ the Hills confirmed that its camp director, Jane Ragsdale, is one of the flood’s victims .
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
Girls summer camp Heart O’ the Hills is just a mile north of Camp Mystic.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
Heart O' the Hills wasn't in session and "most of those who were on camp at the time have been accounted for and are on high ground", the statement said.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2025
After a single trip to the supermarket, the refrigerator and the cupboards fill with familiar labels: Skippy, Hood, Bumble Bee, Land O’ Lakes.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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At week's end a Russian delegation got the signatures of the leaders of Kazakhstan on a similar agreement-to-try-t o- agree.
From Time Magazine Archive
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B-- -o-ey -o---- -o yo- -ro- old --ore le-- ---a-d --a- ---y --are -or -olle----- -or yo--o r--- --ll -all o- yo- ---r-day a- -o-r -e-.
From The Crevice by Will Grefé
The text of the larger o- fuda is often accompanied by curious pictures or symbolic illustrations.
From In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn
Phenol-2,4-disulphonic acid is prepared from o- or p-phenolsulphonic acid, whereas phenol-2,4,6-trisulphonic acid is prepared directly from phenol by heating with concentrated sulphuric acid in presence of phosphorus pentoxide.
From Synthetic Tannins by Georg Grasser
Similarly, condensation of different samples of crude cresol containing varying quantities of o-, m-, and p-cresol did not yield end-products sufficiently different to justify describing them in detail.
From Synthetic Tannins by Georg Grasser
Usually words ending in "-o" are masculine and those ending in "-a" are feminine, but there are many common words that break those gender rules, like "la mano," the word for "hand."
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2022
I don't think the "-e" should eliminate the existing "-o" and the "-a."
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2022
Knocko, Peddlo, Henpecko, and the rest became so popular that the -o suffix soon spread to words up and down the English language.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2020
The -o suffix traces back to old comic strip characters with names like Knocko and Groucho.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2020
I knew perfectly well why, but I didn’t know how -o put it.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
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The P. malariae-like and P. o. wallikeri genomes were both annotated using the Companion tool42.
From Nature ● Jan. 24, 2017
Using a new reference genome for P. malariae and a manually curated draft P. o. curtisi genome, we are now able to accurately place these species within the Plasmodium phylogeny.
From Nature ● Jan. 24, 2017
Reality is that you are giving up your family time by doing the o. t. when they need you at work.
From Time ● May 3, 2013
“If you dey come give am ticket to leave this here country, I will disappear o. I will not even stop home for pick my bag.”
From Washington Post
Then she added, “Sorry o. I did not mean that your boyfriend is a criminal. I was just asking.”
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Thus masc. -o- stems show palatal modification, e.g. corn, “horn,” plur. cyrn < *kornī; the plural ending of -u- stems, O. Gaulish -oves, gives O.W. -ou, Mid.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various
And if he’s going to be a senator, he says, he needs to lock down a Jackie O. – not a Marilyn.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
The one here involves the eight pits that were unearthed 40 years ago by workers in Sanxingdui in southern China “at the foot of the Tibetan mountains,” as narrator Jay O. Sanders tells us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
“It is not the trial of O. J. Simpson, the man accused of murdering my son and Nicole.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
Mr. Yagoda is the author of the novel “Alias O. Henry.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Also present were Major O. W. Hotchkins, chairman of the separate local defense council; Bart Johannson, an assistant to Major Hotchkins; and S. Austin Coney, organizer of the island’s Interceptor Command force.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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My eyes watered as the camera panned over his arm-in-arm players as they shouted the line, “Think, o beloved homeland! That heaven/gave you a soldier in each son.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Mr. Brownlee’s tenor proved rock-solid in Arturo’s demanding music, from his exquisitely relaxed, almost languid opening aria, “A te, o cara,” to some punishing high Fs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
It calls on the US to "reassure the people of Palau" that civilians will be protected if conflict was o break out.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2025
Marvell and SoftBank didn’t immediately respond t o Barron’s requests for comment early on Thursday.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2025
Anyway, sometimes o makes the ow sound even when the w’s not there, like in note.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
While some winning coaches were making their names with toughness that bordered on abuse, he urged Close to see her teams as human beings first, not X’s and O’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
Both senior managers were subsequently disciplined by Google for witnessing Mr O's conduct and failing to intervene, before later being made redundant.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
Carson Palmer’s coaching staff, filled with former NFL players like himself, have shown they can teach, lead and handle X’s and O’s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2025
However, a paediatric pathologist who was not involved in the case but has seen Baby O's post-mortem report, says it was "unlikely" Baby O's liver injuries were caused by impact - as the prosecution claims.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025
When Elizebeth and her team stacked up the twenty-eight Enigma messages they had in December 1942, they discovered that the first column had far more O’s in it than anything else.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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"The Dutch experience in my opinion offers a warning for Canada," Os cautioned.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
“It’s very beautiful to know that you have a partner that knows what you go through and that can give you advice from his experiences as well,” Os says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
On the personal side, Os is also relishing her relationship with Peso Pluma.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
“I want to grow more internationally with this album,” says Os.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
She’d been fourteen, and her family had been summering on the coast of West Ravka, enjoying the seaside and performing in a carnival on the outskirts of Os Kervo.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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Like other Romance languages, Spanish divides most endings of nouns into masculine o’s or feminine a’s.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 12, 2021
Speaking in the same New Orleans twang as her students—those bouncy o’s and long, lingering a’s—Foster was teaching her fifth-graders about chemical reactions.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2016
Texting and Millennials The phone holds a million x’s and o’s.
From Forbes ● Jun. 5, 2013
Actual coaching — x’s and o’s — would become more important.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2011
It was almost perfect, just a fraction flatter and shakier than Betty Jean’s voice had been, the o’s and ah’s parodies of Betty Jean’s pretentious ones.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
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Dreyfus pleased his friends no better than his :oes: he irked them by not becoming a "Dreyfusard."
From Time Magazine Archive
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Yr un peth a ellir ei ddywedyd am Daliesin Ben Beirdd, nid oes neb heddyw, hyd i gwn i, a fedr gyfieithu yn iawn un o’i Awdlau na’i Orchanau.
From Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards by Evan Evans
The poet "mouthing out his hollow oes and aes" is, we are told, a good description of Tennyson's tone and manner of reading.
From The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by John Churton Collins
Ir wyfi yn meddwl nad oes neb a ryfygei gymmeryd y fath orchest arno.
From Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards by Evan Evans
Dreig Arfon arfod wythlonedd Dragon diheufeirch heirddfeirch harddedd, Ni chaiff Sais i drais y droedfedd oi fro, Nid oes o Gymro i Gymrodedd.
From Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards by Evan Evans
A new Longevity Preparedness Index from John Hancock and MIT AgeLab os based on a survey of over 1,300 adults and focused on eight areas such as finance, home, health and community.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025
She first broke through with 2016’s “Remonta,” an album she recorded with her former band Liniker e os Caramelows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2025
Ambos os programas são “fundamentais para entender a expansão agrícola no Brasil e as emissões de carbono do desmatamento na Amazônia,” diz Douglas Morton, especialista em sensoriamento remoto do Goddard Space Flight Center da NASA.
From Science Magazine ● May 26, 2022
Hours later, Kelly posts bail and os released from jail in Chicago.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2021
The os in his calculations were only intermediaries, crutches that vanished miraculously by the end of the computation.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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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.