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al

1 American  
[ahl] / ɑl /

noun

  1. Indian mulberry.

Al 2 American  
[al] / æl /

noun

  1. a first name, form of Albert, Alfred, Aloysius.

Al 3 American  
Symbol, Chemistry.

  1. aluminum.

AL 4 American  

abbreviation

  1. Alabama (approved especially for use with zip code).

  2. Anglo-Latin.

al- 5 American  

  1. variant of ad- before l: allure.

-al 6 American  

  1. a suffix with the general sense “of the kind of, pertaining to, having the form or character of” that named by the stem, occurring in loanwords from Latin (autumnal; natural; pastoral ), and productive in English on the Latin model, usually with bases of Latin origin (accidental; seasonal; tribal ). Originally, -al1 was restricted to stems not containing an -l- (-ar ); recent lapses in this rule have produced semantically distinct pairs, as familiar and familial.

-al 7 American  

  1. a suffix forming nouns from verbs, usually verbs of French or Latin origin.

    denial; refusal.
-al 8 American  

  1. Chemistry. a suffix indicating that a compound contains an aldehyde group.

    chloral.
Al- 9 American  

  1. a word in Arabic names meaning “family” or “the house of ”.

    Al-Saud, or the members of the house of Saud.
al. 10 American  

abbreviation

  1. other things.

al. 11 American  

abbreviation

  1. other persons.

AL. 12 American  

abbreviation

  1. Anglo-Latin.

a.l. 13 American  

abbreviation

  1. autograph letter.

A.L. 14 American  

abbreviation

  1. Baseball. American League.

  2. American Legion.

  3. Anglo-Latin.

AL 1 British  

abbreviation

  1. Alabama

  2. Anglo-Latin

  3. (in the US and Canada) American League (of baseball teams)

  4. Albania (international car registration)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
-al 2 British  

suffix

  1. indicating an aldehyde

    ethanal

  2. indicating a pharmaceutical product

    phenobarbital
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
-al 3 British  

suffix

  1. of; related to; connected with

    functional

    sectional

    tonal
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
-al 4 British  

suffix

  1. the act or process of doing what is indicated by the verb stem

    rebuttal

    recital

    renewal
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Al 5 British  

symbol

  1. aluminium

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
al 6 British  

abbreviation

  1. Albania

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of al1

From the Hindi word āl

Origin of -al6

< Latin ālis, -āle; often replacing Middle English -el < Old French

Origin of -al7

< Latin -āle (singular), -ālia (plural), nominalized neuter of -ālis -al 1; often replacing Middle English -aille < Old French < Latin -ālia

Origin of -al8

Presumed to be short for aldehyde

Origin of Al-9

From the Arabic word āl family

Origin of al.10

From the Latin word alia

Origin of al.11

From the Latin word aliī

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.

They are not the only ministers to find themselves caught up in a corruption case in recent years: two more former cabinet ministers were charged in relation to a scam that saw Nepalis pay for fake documents allowing them to enter the US as Bhutanese refugees, Al Jazeera reported.

From BBC

The 35-year-old striker, who has joined Qatari side Al‑Sailiya, says owners of English clubs were wary of signing him following his accident in December 2024, which left him with multiple leg fractures.

From BBC

Holgate was asked by manager Mirghani Al Zain if he knew anyone who might be available on a free after an injury to their first-choice striker - and Antonio came to mind.

From BBC

“It was like we all got back together and became Beach Boys again,” says Al Jardine, who founded the group in suburban Hawthorne in 1961 with Wilson, Wilson’s brothers Dennis and Carl and the Wilsons’ cousin Mike Love.

From Los Angeles Times

Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus suggested to Sedaka and Greenfield that they would have better luck at 1650 Broadway, where Al Nevins and Don Kirshner had just opened their publishing company Aldon Music.

From Los Angeles Times

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.