stab
verb (used with object)
to pierce or wound with or as if with a pointed weapon.
stab
1 American
[stab]
/ stæb /
verb (used with object)
-
stabs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stabbed,
past participle, past
-
stabbing
present participle
-
to pierce or wound with or as if with a pointed weapon.
She stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork.
-
to thrust, plunge, or jab (a knife, pointed weapon, or the like) into something.
He stabbed the knife into the man's chest.
-
to penetrate sharply or painfully.
Their misery stabbed his conscience.
-
to make a piercing, thrusting, or pointing motion at or in.
He stabbed me in the chest with his finger.
The speaker stabbed the air in anger.
verb (used without object)
-
stabs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stabbed,
past participle, past
-
stabbing
present participle
-
to thrust with or as if with a knife or other pointed weapon.
to stab at an attacker.
-
to deliver a wound, as with a pointed weapon.
noun
-
stabs
plural
idioms
-
stab (someone) in the back, to do harm to (someone), especially to a friend or to a person who is unsuspecting or in a defenseless position.
-
a stab in the back, an act of treachery.
stab.
2
American
abbreviation
-
stabilization.
-
stabilizer.
-
stable.
stab
British
/ stæb /
verb
-
(tr) to pierce or injure with a sharp pointed instrument
-
(tr) (of a sharp pointed instrument) to pierce or wound
the knife stabbed her hand
-
to make a thrust (at); jab
he stabbed at the doorway
-
(tr) to inflict with a sharp pain
-
-
(verb) to do damage to the reputation of (a person, esp a friend) in a surreptitious way
-
(noun) a treacherous action or remark that causes the downfall of or injury to a person
-
noun
-
the act or an instance of stabbing
-
an injury or rift made by stabbing
-
a sudden sensation, esp an unpleasant one
a stab of pity
-
informal an attempt (esp in the phrase make a stab at )
stab
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stabsimple
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stabssimple
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have stabbedperfect
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has stabbedperfect
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am stabbingprogressive
-
are stabbingprogressive
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is stabbingprogressive
-
have been stabbingperfect progressive
-
has been stabbingperfect progressive
Past
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stabbedsimple
-
had stabbedperfect
-
was stabbingprogressive
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were stabbingprogressive
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had been stabbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stab
First recorded in 1435–45 for the noun, and in 1525–35 for the verb; Middle English ( Scots ) noun stab, stabbe, stappe, of uncertain origin; compare Scots stob “needle, large needle”; verb from the noun
Explanation
To stab is to thrust or jab something sharp, the way you stab your sandwich with a toothpick or the way Brutus (and others) stab Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play. You can stab at the soil in your garden with a trowel or stab the steak on your plate with a fork. You might then experience a stab (or sharp feeling) of regret, wondering if you should become a vegetarian. When you "take a stab at something," you attempt it: "I decided to take a stab at opera singing." Stab comes from the Scottish stob, "to pierce."
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:
Now let me take a stab at translating what it found:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Depending on the species, chelicerae can function as pincers or fangs that grip, pierce, or stab prey.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Adopting a psychedelic-rock aesthetic, “Casket” was another stab at optimism; Brock wanted to create something intentionally upbeat to sweeten the sour, post-pandemic mood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
"It was horrific... just like a stab in the stomach again," she said.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
I start slamming clothes into my basket, and I have to keep blinking because my eyes feel all prickly with the tears trying to stab their way out.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
"Let me hazard a wild stab. One is for Robb Stark, the others for Lords Stannis and Renly. Would that be right?"
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
“That is more difficult. The English, they do not stab. You are right there. I incline to the view that someone else dropped the pipe cleaner—and did so to incriminate the long-legged Englishman.”
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
“If you have a friend that stabs you in the back, that’s the way it was with what I had been taught about history,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
“Urchin” is energetic and filled with life: funny asides, tiny joys, stabs of recognition and flourishes of visual psychedelia.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2025
The Heritage Orchestra, led by Ben Foster, added new flourishes to her back catalogue, with funky stabs of brass punctuating Pretty Please, and Maria gaining a playful Mariachi vibe.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2024
Certainly he and his team have given it their all; the time they’ve put in and their stabs at various compromises have been impressive.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2024
Taro coughs loudly and stabs his fork in another piece of pink steak.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
On his June 2026 song “We Know the Truth,” he rejected allegations connecting him to the killing and said he learned after arriving to perform at the festival that someone had been stabbed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
In one version circulating, attributed to a source in the VA police, she had already been stabbed by the time she arrived at the VA.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
As the footage continues, the officer can be heard asking: "You've been stabbed, whereabouts?" before adding: "Don't think you have, mate."
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Above all, we learn our lessons when we make misjudgments rather than claim we have been stabbed in the back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
Gunwoo let out a keening sound of such anguish it stabbed at Doha’s heart.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
I missed my target entirely, stabbing the hunk of hay more than a foot away from the bull’s-eye.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
U.K. officials have rebuffed the criticism, with Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy pointing out that the attacker was British and saying the stabbing had nothing to do with immigration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
The New York Police Department said it would not increase security specifically at Penn Station because of Sunday's stabbing.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
Lauren Buckland, 36, said she gets regular random "stabbing" pains in her uterus, lower back, hip and pelvis.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
Alex reached the staircase and climbed up into the light, feeling the woman’s eyes, like daggers, stabbing into his back.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
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.
