App Definition & Meaning

American

British

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms app 1 American [ap] / æp /

noun

1. Digital Technology. a software application, often a small, specialized program for mobile devices.

   You’ll find numerous free photo editing apps in the app store on your smartphone.

   The word processing app that comes with the laptop isn’t adequate for our publishing needs.

2. an application; a form to be filled out by an applicant.

   I'm working on my college apps.

app 2 American [ap] / æp /

noun

1. Informal. an appetizer served before a meal.

app. 3 American

abbreviation

1. apparatus.

2. apparent.

3. appendix.

4. applied.

5. appointed.

6. approved.

7. approximate.

app British / æp /

noun

1. informal computing short for application program

"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 app1

First recorded in 1985–90; shortening of application ( def. )

Origin of app2

By shortening

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.

You can reduce the size of your current iPhone’s backup by turning off syncing for any unnecessary apps.

From The Wall Street Journal

This month, when King tried to show CalMatters her TeamSnap account, a pop-up appeared, asking her if the company could track her activity across other apps and websites.

From Los Angeles Times

A survey of teachers in 2024 by the app Teacher Tapp suggested that fewer secondary school pupils were wearing ties than the previous year.

From BBC

“In a landscape where dating apps encourage efficiency and optionality, longing becomes a way of resisting closure,” writes one, and that yearning “allows feelings to exist without being immediately tested against reality.”

From Salon

“Do you want to manage 15 different apps and get 15 different notifications?” says Andy Miller, senior vice president of AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative, a business accelerator program.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• program
• software

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.