lab
noun
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lab
1 American
[lab]
/ læb /
noun
Lab
2
American
[lab]
/ læb /
noun
LAB
3
American
Or
lab
abbreviation
Slang.
lab.
4
American
abbreviation
-
labor.
-
laboratory.
-
laborer.
Lab.
5
American
abbreviation
-
Laborite.
-
Labrador.
Lab.
1
British
abbreviation
-
politics Labour
-
Labrador
lab
2
British
/ læb /
noun
-
short for laboratory
-
short for Labrador retriever
lab.
3
British
abbreviation
-
laboratory
-
labour
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Shortly after our interview concluded, the hospitality maven David Grutman asked me if I had a lab report of my blood work handy on my phone.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026
The policy covered her IVF procedures, ultrasounds and lab work after she met the deductible.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026
Visitors peered into the Fish Bowl, the glass-walled lab where white-coated preparators carefully clean fossils.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
Rival AI lab Anthropic isn’t involved in the discussions.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
Coal took the bag and shuffled into the corner to put on his clothes under the lab coat.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
