Definitions for a
ə; when stressed eɪa

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:2.9 / 28 votes

1. angstrom, angstrom unit, Anoun

   a metric unit of length equal to one ten billionth of a meter (or 0.0001 micron); used to specify wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation

2. vitamin A, antiophthalmic factor, axerophthol, Anoun

   any of several fat-soluble vitamins essential for normal vision; prevents night blindness or inflammation or dryness of the eyes

3. deoxyadenosine monophosphate, Anoun

   one of the four nucleotides used in building DNA; all four nucleotides have a common phosphate group and a sugar (ribose)

4. adenine, Anoun

   (biochemistry) purine base found in DNA and RNA; pairs with thymine in DNA and with uracil in RNA

5. ampere, amp, Anoun

   the basic unit of electric current adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites

   "a typical household circuit carries 15 to 50 amps"

6. A, anoun

   the 1st letter of the Roman alphabet

7. A, type A, group Anoun

   the blood group whose red cells carry the A antigen

WiktionaryRate this definition:3.4 / 12 votes

1. apronoun

   Alternate form of a.

2. Anoun

   An academic grade issued by certain educational institutions. Slightly better than an A.

   I give this novel an A+.

3. Anoun

   The highest possible rating.

   I give this novel an A+.

4. Anoun

   An academic grade. Where it is used, it is often the best class of result.

   I give this novel an A+.

5. Anoun

   A best-first graph search algorithm for finding a lowest cost path to a goal.

6. aadverb

   Alternate spelling of a

7. aadjective

   Alternate spelling of a

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. A

   The first letter of the European alphabets, has, in the English language, three different sounds, which may be termed the broad, open, and slender. The broad sound resembling that of the German a is found, in many of our monosyllables, as all, wall, malt, salt; in which a is pronounced as au in cause, or aw in law. Many of these words were anciently written with au, as fault, waulk; which happens to be still retained in fault. This was probably the ancient sound of the Saxons, since it is almost uniformly preserved in the rustic pronunciation, and the Northern dialects, as maun for man, haund for hand. A open, not unlike the a of the Italians, is found in father, rather, and more obscurely in fancy, fast, &c. A slender or close, is the peculiar a of the English language, resembling the sound of the French e masculine, or diphthong ai in païs, or perhaps a middle sound between them, or between the a and e; to this the Arabic a is said nearly to approach. Of this sound we have examples in the words, place, face, waste, and all those that terminate in ation; as, relation, nation, generation. A is short, as, glass, grass; or long, as, glaze, graze: it is marked long, generally, by an e final, plane, or by an i added, as, plain.

   A, an article set before nouns of the singular number; a man, a tree; denoting the number one, as, a man is coming, that is, no more than one;or an indefinite indication, as, a man may come this way; that is, any man. This article has no plural signification. Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is written an, as, an ox, an egg, of which a is the contraction.A is sometimes a noun; as, a great A, a little a.A is placed before a participle, or participial noun; and is considered by Wallis as a contraction of at, when it is put before a word denoting some action not yet finished; as, I am a walking.It also seems to be anciently contracted from at, when placed before local surnames; as, Thomas a Becket.In other cases, it seems to signify to, like the French à.

   A hunting Chloë went. Matthew Prior.

   They go a begging to a bankrupt’s door. Dryd.

   May pure contents for ever pitch their tents
   Upon these downs, these meads, these rocks, these mountains,
   And peace still slumber by these purling fountains!
   Which we may every year
   Find when we come a fishing here. Henry Wotton.

   Now the men fell a rubbing of armour, which a great while had lain oiled; the magazines of munition are viewed; the officers of remains called to account. Henry Wotton.

   Another falls a ringing a Pescennius Niger, and judiciously distinguishes the sound of it to be modern. Joseph Addison, on medals.

   A has a peculiar signification, denoting the proportion of one thing to another. Thus we say, The landlord hath a hundred a year; The ship’s crew gained a thousand pounds a man.

   The river Inn, that had been hitherto shut up among mountains, passes generally through a wide open country, during all its course through Bavaria; which is a voyage of two days, after the rate of twenty leagues a day. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

   For cloves and nutmegs to the line-a,
   And even for oranges to China. Dryden.

   A, in composition, seems to have sometimes the power of the French a in these phrases, a droit, a gauche, &c. and sometimes to be contracted from at; as, aside, aslope, afoot, asleep, athirst, aware.

   If this, which he avouches, does appear,
   There is no flying hence, nor tarrying here.
   I gin to be a weary of the sun;
   And wish the state of the world were now undone. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   And now a breeze from shore began to blow,
   The sailors ship their oars, and cease to row;
   Then hoist their yards a-trip, and all their sails
   Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales. John Dryden, Ceyx and Alcyone.

   A, in abbreviations, stands for artium, or arts; as, A.B. bachelor of arts, artium baccalaureus; A.M. master of arts, artium magister; or, anno; as, A.D. anno domini.

WikipediaRate this definition:3.0 / 5 votes

1. A

   A (named, plural As, A's, as, a's or aes) is the first letter and the first vowel of the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, "a", and its variant "an", is an indefinite article.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. a

   The letter "a" is the first letter of the English alphabet, representing a vowel sound. It is a basic unit of written language used to form words and sentences.

2. A

   A general definition for "A" depends on the context it is used in. It could represent various things such as a letter of the alphabet, a grade indicating excellence or the first item in a series. Without further context, it is challenging to provide a specific definition.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:4.3 / 6 votes

1. A

   the first letter of the English and of many other alphabets. The capital A of the alphabets of Middle and Western Europe, as also the small letter (a), besides the forms in Italic, black letter, etc., are all descended from the old Latin A, which was borrowed from the Greek Alpha, of the same form; and this was made from the first letter (/) of the Phoenician alphabet, the equivalent of the Hebrew Aleph, and itself from the Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a consonant letter, with a guttural breath sound that was not an element of Greek articulation; and the Greeks took it to represent their vowel Alpha with the a sound, the Phoenician alphabet having no vowel symbols

2. A

   the name of the sixth tone in the model major scale (that in C), or the first tone of the minor scale, which is named after it the scale in A minor. The second string of the violin is tuned to the A in the treble staff. -- A sharp (A/) is the name of a musical tone intermediate between A and B. -- A flat (A/) is the name of a tone intermediate between A and G

3. A

   an adjective, commonly called the indefinite article, and signifying one or any, but less emphatically

4. A

   in each; to or for each; as, "twenty leagues a day", "a hundred pounds a year", "a dollar a yard", etc

5. A

   in; on; at; by

6. A

   in process of; in the act of; into; to; -- used with verbal substantives in -ing which begin with a consonant. This is a shortened form of the preposition an (which was used before the vowel sound); as in a hunting, a building, a begging

7. A

   of

8. A

   a barbarous corruption of have, of he, and sometimes of it and of they

9. A

   an expletive, void of sense, to fill up the meter

10. Etymology: [Shortened form of an. AS. n one. See One.]

WikidataRate this definition:2.3 / 3 votes

1. A

   A is the first letter and vowel in the ISO basic Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:3.5 / 2 votes

1. A

   ä or ā, a prep., derived from the old prep.on, and still used, as a prefix, in afoot, afield, apart, asleep, nowadays, twice-a-day; also with verbal nouns, as a-building, to be a-doing, to set a-going. It is now admitted only colloquially. [Short for A.S. an, a dialectic form of on, on, in, at. See Prefixes.]

2. A

   ä, a dialectic corruption of he or she, as in quotha, (Shak.) 'A babbled of green fields.'—A, usually written a', Scotch for all; A, a form of the L. prep. ab, from, of, used before consonants, as in Thomas à Kempis, Thomas à Becket, &c.

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:3.0 / 2 votes

1. a

   The highest class of the excellence of merchant ships on Lloyd's books, subdivided into A 1 and A 2, after which they descend by the vowels: A 1 being the very best of the first class. Formerly a river-built (Thames) ship took the first rate for 12 years, a Bristol one for 11, and those of the northern ports 10. Some of the out-port built ships keep their rating 6 to 8 years, and inferior ones only 4. But improvements in ship-building, and the large introduction of iron, are now claiming longer life. A is an Anglo-Saxonism for in or on; as a'board, a'going, &c.

Rap DictionaryRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. averb

   Going to. And I'm a continue to put the rap down, put the mack down -- Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg (Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang)

2. anoun

   See A-Town.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. aadjective

   a

   a

   Etymology: a

   
   

   Submitted by sjuataj on October 31, 2022  

2. ---

   a

   Symbol or letter.

   The letter " a " is used frequently within a unit of grammar.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on March 25, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:2.5 / 2 votes

1. a

   Song lyrics by a -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by a on the Lyrics.com website.

EntomologyRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. A

   prefix, is privative; wanting or without.

Matched Categories

1. • Biochemistry
   • Blood Group
   • Current Unit
   • Fat-soluble Vitamin
   • Letter
   • Metric Linear Unit
   • Nucleotide
   • Purine

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'a' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'a' in Written Corpus Frequency: #6

How to pronounce a?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say a in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of a in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of a in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=a
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/A
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=a
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=a
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=a
9. ^ Dictionary of Nautical Terms
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=a
10. ^ Entomology
    https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22748/22748-h/22748-h.htm#:~:text=a