Ad Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

ad

1 of 7

noun (1)

often attributive
1
: advertisement sense 1
newspapers ads
TV ads for new cars
2
: advertising
an ad agency

ad

2 of 7

noun (2)

AD

3 of 7

abbreviation (1)

1
active duty
2
after date
3
4
Alzheimer's disease
5
anno Domini
often printed in small capitals and often punctuated
6
assembly district
7
assistant director
8
athletic director
9
right ear
used especially in audiology and in writing medical prescriptions

A/D

4 of 7

abbreviation (2)

analog/digital

ad-

5 of 7

prefix

variants or ac- or af- or ag- or al- or ap- or as- or at-
1
: to : toward
usually ac- before c, k, or q
acculturation
and af- before f
affluent
and ag- before g
aggradation
and al- before l
alliteration
and ap- before p
apportion
and as- before s
assuasive
and at- before t
attune
and ad- before other sounds but sometimes ad- even before one of the listed consonants
adsorb
2
: near : adjacent to
in this sense always in the form ad-
adrenal

-ad

6 of 7

adverb suffix

: in the direction of : toward
cephalad

-ad

7 of 7

noun suffix

: member of a botanical group
bromeliad

Examples of ad in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
In the short term, the segment of the market for human creators that seems most directly endangered is a lucrative one: songs created for ads and even TV shows. Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 17 Mar. 2024 In the new internet McCourt envisions, users would set their own terms of use and if a company agreed to them their information would be made available for targeting ads or collecting information. Paolo Confino, Fortune, 16 Mar. 2024 The latest feature in this vein is called free-form ads. Boone Ashworth, WIRED, 16 Mar. 2024 And despite all the billboards and subway ads, some people aren’t going back to SVB. Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024 Johnston, of Epic Recruiting, recalled creating a recent ad campaign for the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia aimed at a nearby HBCU that featured several of the department's African American officers. USA TODAY, 15 Mar. 2024 The software giant first introduced malware-like pop-up ads last year with a prompt that appeared over the top of other apps and windows. Tom Warren, The Verge, 15 Mar. 2024 The ad campaign by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office is in response to the rash of smash-and-grab robberies, home burglaries and other crimes that have garnered headlines. Louis Casiano, Fox News, 14 Mar. 2024 Pop-Tarts followed up with a full-page ad in The Kansas City Star as well as a post on Instagram asking Swift for the proprietary recipe. Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 4 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ad.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

by shortening

Noun (2)

by shortening

Prefix

borrowed from Latin, prefix forming verbs and verbal derivatives, marking movement toward, tendency, addition, from ad, preposition, "to, as far as, at, near, in accordance with" — more at at entry 1

Adverb suffix

borrowed from Latin ad "to, toward" — more at at entry 1

Noun suffix

borrowed from New Latin -ad-, -as, borrowed from Greek -ad-, -as, feminine noun suffix denoting descent from or connection with

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1799, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1915, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of ad was in 1799

Dictionary Entries Near ad

Cite this Entry

“Ad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ad. Accessed 27 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

ad

1 of 2 noun
ˈad

ad-

2 of 2 prefix
variants or ac- or af- or ag- or al- or ap- or as- or at-
: to : toward
usually ac- before c, k, or q and af- before f and ag- before g and al- before l and ap- before p and as- before s and at- before t and ad- before other sounds but sometimes ad- even before one of the listed consonants
Etymology

Prefix

Latin ad- "to, toward"

Medical Definition

AD

abbreviation
1
2
3
[Latin auris dextra] right ear
used especially in audiology and in writing medical prescriptions
4
average deviation

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