An Definition & Meaning

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  • American
  • British
  • Grammar
  • Usage
  • Etymology
  • Examples
    • Synonyms an 1 American [uhn, an] / ən, æn /

    indefinite article

    1. the form of a before an initial vowel sound (an arch; an honor ) and sometimes, especially in British English, before an initial unstressed syllable beginning with a silent or weakly pronounced h .

      an historian.

    an- 2 American

    1. a prefix occurring before stems beginning with a vowel or h in loanwords from Greek, where it means “not,” “without,” “lacking” (anarchy; anecdote ); used in the formation of compound words.

      anelectric.

    an 3 American [uhn, an] / ən, æn / Also an',

    conjunction

    1. Informal. and.

    2. Archaic. if.

    an- 4 American

    1. variant of ad- before n: announce.

    an- 5 American

    1. variant of ana- before a vowel.

      anion.

    An 6 American [ahn] / ɑn /

    noun

    1. the Sumerian god of heaven: the counterpart of the Akkadian Anu.

    An 7 American Symbol, Chemistry.

    1. actinon.

    AN 8 American Or A.-N.

    abbreviation

    1. Anglo-Norman.

    -an 9 American

    1. a suffix occurring originally in adjectives borrowed from Latin, formed from nouns denoting places (Roman; urban ) or persons (Augustan ), and now productively forming English adjectives by extension of the Latin pattern. Attached to geographic names, it denotes provenance or membership (American; Chicagoan; Tibetan ), the latter sense now extended to membership in social classes, religious denominations, etc., in adjectives formed from various kinds of noun bases (Episcopalian; pedestrian; Puritan; Republican ) and membership in zoological taxa (acanthocephalan; crustacean ). Attached to personal names, it has the additional senses “contemporary with” (Elizabethan; Jacobean ) or “proponent of ” (Hegelian; Freudian ) the person specified by the noun base. The suffix -an, and its variant -ian also occurs in a set of personal nouns, mainly loanwords from French, denoting one who engages in, practices, or works with the referent of the base noun (comedian; grammarian; historian; theologian ); this usage is especially productive with nouns ending in -ic (electrician; logician; technician ). See -ian for relative distribution with that suffix.

    an. 10 American

    abbreviation

    1. in the year.

    A.N. 11 American

    abbreviation

    1. Anglo-Norman.

    2. Associate in Nursing.

    -an 1 British

    suffix

    1. (forming adjectives and nouns) belonging to or relating to; a person belonging to or coming from

      European

    2. (forming adjectives and nouns) typical of or resembling; a person typical of

      Elizabethan

    3. (forming adjectives and nouns) adhering to or following; an adherent of

      Christian

    4. (forming nouns) a person who specializes or is expert in

      dietitian

      phonetician

    "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 An 2 British / ɑːn /

    noun

    1. Babylonian counterpart: Anu. myth the Sumerian sky god

    "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 An 3 British

    symbol

    1. actinon

    "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 AN 4 British

    abbreviation

    1. Anglo-Norman

    "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 an 5 British / æn, ən /

    determiner

    1. a form of the indefinite article used before an initial vowel sound

      an old car

      an elf

      an honour

    "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 an 6 British / æn, ən /

    conjunction

    1. (subordinating) an obsolete or dialect word for if See and

    "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 an 7 British

    abbreviation

    1. Netherlands Antilles

    "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 an- 8 British

    prefix

    1. not; without

      anaphrodisiac

    "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

    Grammar

    See a 1.

    Usage

    An was formerly often used before words that begin with h and are unstressed on the first syllable: an hotel ; an historic meeting . Sometimes the initial h was not pronounced. This usage is now becoming obsolete

    Etymology

    Origin of an1

    before 950; Middle English; Old English ān one in a weakened sense

    Origin of an-2

    < Greek. See a- 6, in- 3, un- 1

    Origin of an3

    First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, unstressed phonetic variant of and

    Origin of -an9

    Middle English < Latin -ānus, -āna, -ānum; in some words replacing -ain, -en < Old French < Latin

    Origin of an.10

    From the Latin word annō

    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.

    There’s an 80% chance downtown Los Angeles will get 2 or more inches of rain from Tuesday through Christmas Day.

    From Los Angeles Times

    Reagan was beginning his campaign for governor by proving he could answer questions and “was not just an actor reading a script.”

    From Los Angeles Times

    Another deleted passage in the report said that some crews waited more than an hour for an assignment the day of the fire.

    From Los Angeles Times

    The Coast Guard boarded the vessel in an uncontested interdiction that was assisted by the Navy, one of the U.S. officials said.

    From The Wall Street Journal

    They also developed a new approach to track how labor income and capital income influence earnings over an entire working life.

    From Science Daily

    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.

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