lab

¹ American  

[lab] / læb /

noun

1. laboratory.

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Lab ² American  

[lab] / læb /

noun

1. Informal. Labrador retriever.

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LAB ³ American  

Or lab

abbreviation

Slang.

1. life’s a bitch (used to acknowledge, often dismissively, a difficult or unfair circumstance).

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lab. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. labor.

2. laboratory.

3. laborer.

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Lab. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Laborite.

2. Labrador.

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Lab. ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. politics Labour

2. Labrador

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lab ² British  

/ læb /

noun

1. short for laboratory

2. short for Labrador retriever

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lab. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. laboratory

2. labour

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Etymology

Origin of lab¹

By shortening

Origin of Lab²

By shortening

Origin of LAB³

From its use in digital communications

Explanation

A lab is a room or building where science experiments, tests, and research are done. Most high schools have science labs for biology and chemistry classes. Lab is shorthand for laboratory, with its Medieval Latin root laboratorium, "a place for labor or work," from the Latin laborare, "to work." Many scientists and researchers go to work each day in a lab (often wearing a "lab coat," a white smock that protects their clothes). Some labs are equipped for studying the way plants grow and reproduce, while in others scientists study the brainwaves of human subjects or the traits of a virus. If you are a scientist, chances are you hang out in a lab.

Example Sentences

Inside a paleobiology lab lined with cabinets of ancient fossils, the Virginia Tech undergraduate held up a rough, pitted skull.

From Science Daily • Apr. 15, 2026

They sit around what resembles a school science lab sniffing coffee beans and slurping coffee so aggressively that there’s loud music playing to drown them out.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

A leaked memo from OpenAI on Monday showed that the AI lab is leaning into its relationship with Amazon as part of a strategy to gain enterprise market share.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

“We’ll go back to the lab to see if we can do even better but what more can you ask for?”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

He turned back to look at the rest of the lab, but once the doors shut—with a soft, but determined click—the glass filled in with a pale gray color, like a cloud crossing the sky.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Related Words

• workshop