ad

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈad 

1

: advertisement sense 1

newspaper ads

TV ads for new cars

2

: advertising

an ad agency

ad

2 of 4

noun (2)

: advantage sense 4

AD

3 of 4

abbreviation

1

active duty

2

after date

3

airworthiness directive

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

-ad

4 of 4

noun suffix

: member of a botanical group

bromeliad

Synonyms of ad

Noun (1)

• advertisement
• announcement

Examples of ad in a Sentence

Noun (1)

did you see the ads in the paper for cheap round-trip flights to Florida?

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

At nearly $316 million, the California governor's race is the most expensive on record and the fifth-most expensive non-presidential race on record for ad spending, according to AdImpact, a media-tracking firm. —Terry Collins, USA Today, 10 June 2026

Most of that has come from their own deep pockets and fueled a barrage of attack ads across Georgia. —Shannon McCaffrey, AJC.com, 10 June 2026

Courage California’s Kao said the negative ads may have reflected poorly on Steyer, whose favorability ratings were nearly 10 percentage points lower than Becerra’s in a final UC Berkeley poll in late May. —Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 10 June 2026

Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. —Corky Siemaszko, NBC news, 10 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

by shortening

Noun (2)

by shortening

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

Phrases Containing ad

• ad agency
• ad-blocker
• ad eundem
• ad eundem gradum
• ad feminam
• ad hoc
• ad hominem
• ad infinitum
• ad int
• ad interim
• ad-lib
• ad libitum
• ad loc
• ad nauseam
• ad rem
• ad server
• ad val
• ad valorem
• ad verbum
• banner ad
• habeas corpus ad subjiciendum
• personal ad
• reductio ad absurdum
• small ad
• subpoena ad testificandum
• terminus ad quem
• want ad

Rhymes for ad

• add
• bad
• brad
• cad
• clad
• dad
• fad
• gad
• glad
• grad
• had
• lad

Kids Definition

ad

1 of 2 noun

ˈad

: advertisement sense 2

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

Alzheimer disease; Alzheimer's disease

2

atopic dermatitis

3

[Latin auris dextra] right ear

—used especially in audiology and in writing medical prescriptions

4

average deviation