s

1

abbreviation

Other definitions for s (2 of 19)

s2

Symbol.
  1. second.

Other definitions for 's (3 of 19)

's1

  1. an ending used in writing to represent the possessive morpheme after most singular nouns, some plural nouns, especially those not ending in a letter or combination of letters representing an s or z sound, noun phrases, and noun substitutes, as in man's, women's, baby's, James's, witness's, (or witness'), king of England's, or anyone's.

Origin of 's

3
Middle English -es,Old English

Other definitions for 's (4 of 19)

's2

  1. contraction of is:She's here.

  2. contraction of does:What's he do for a living now?

  1. contraction of has:He's just gone.

usage note For 's

Other definitions for 's (5 of 19)

's3

Archaic.
  1. a contraction of God's, as in 'swounds; 'sdeath; 'sblood.

Other definitions for 's (6 of 19)

's4

  1. a contraction of us, as in Let's go.

usage note For 's

Other definitions for 's (7 of 19)

's5

  1. a contraction of as, as in so's to get there on time.

Other definitions for S (8 of 19)

S1

or s

[ es ]

noun,plural S's or Ss, s's or ss.
  1. the 19th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.

  2. any spoken sound represented by the letter S or s, as in saw, sense, or goose.

  1. something having the shape of an S.

  2. a written or printed representation of the letter S or s.

  3. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter S or s.

Other definitions for S (9 of 19)

S2

abbreviation
  1. satisfactory.

  2. Baseball. sacrifice (def. 6).

  1. Baseball. save1 (def. 17).

  2. Saxon.

  3. sentence.

  4. short.

  5. Electricity. siemens.

  6. signature.

  7. single.

  8. small.

  9. soft.

  10. Music. soprano.

  11. South.

  12. Southern.

  13. state (highway).

  14. Grammar. subject.

Other definitions for S (10 of 19)

S3

Symbol.
  1. the 19th in order or in a series

  2. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 7 or 70.: Compare Roman numerals.

  1. second.

  2. Biochemistry. serine.

  3. Thermodynamics. entropy (def. 1b).

  4. Chemistry. sulfur (def. 1).

Other definitions for -s (11 of 19)

-s1

  1. a native English suffix used in the formation of adverbs: always; betimes; needs; unawares.

Origin of -s

11
Middle English -es,Old English; ultimately identical with 's1

Other definitions for -s (12 of 19)

-s2

  1. an ending marking the third person singular indicative active of verbs: walks.

Origin of -s

12
Middle English (north) -(e)s,Old English (north); originally ending of 2nd person singular, as in Latin and Greek; replacing Middle English, Old English -eth-eth1

Other definitions for -s (13 of 19)

-s3

  1. an ending marking nouns as plural (boys; wolves), occurring also on nouns that have no singular (dregs; entrails; pants; scissors), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning (clothes; glasses; manners; thanks). The pluralizing value of -s3 is weakened or lost in a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement, as the names of games (billiards; checkers; tiddlywinks) and of diseases (measles; mumps; pox; rickets); the latter use has been extended to create informal names for a variety of involuntary conditions, physical or mental (collywobbles; d.t.'s; giggles; hots; willies). A parallel set of formations, where -s3 has no plural value, are adjectives denoting socially unacceptable or inconvenient states (bananas; bonkers; crackers; nuts; preggers; starkers); cf. -ers.

Origin of -s

13
Middle English -(e)s,Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Other definitions for -s (14 of 19)

-s4

  1. a suffix of hypocoristic nouns, generally proper names or forms used only in address: Babs; Fats; Suzykins; Sweetums; Toodles.

Origin of -s

14
Probably from the metonymic use of nouns formed with -s3, as boots or Goldilocks

Other definitions for s. (15 of 19)

s.

abbreviation
  1. saint.

  2. school.

  1. second.

  2. section.

  3. see.

  4. series.

  5. shilling; shillings.

  6. sign.

  7. signed.

  8. silver.

  9. singular.

  10. sire.

  11. small.

  12. society.

  13. son.

  14. south.

  15. southern.

  16. steamer.

  17. stem.

  18. stem of.

  19. substantive.

Other definitions for S. (16 of 19)

S.1

abbreviation
  1. (in prescriptions) mark; write; label.

Origin of S.

16
From the Latin word signa

Other definitions for S. (17 of 19)

S.2

abbreviation
  1. (in prescriptions) let it be written.

Origin of S.

17
From theLatin word signētur

Other definitions for S. (18 of 19)

S.3

abbreviation
  1. Fellow.

Origin of S.

18
From the Latin word socius

Other definitions for S. (19 of 19)

S.4

abbreviation
  1. Sabbath.

  2. Saint.

  1. Saturday.

  2. Saxon.

  3. (in Austria) schilling; schillings.

  4. School.

  5. Sea.

  6. Senate.

  7. September.

  8. shilling; shillings.

  9. Signor.

  10. Small.

  11. Socialist.

  12. Society.

  13. South.

  14. Southern.

  15. (in Ecuador) sucre; sucres.

  16. Sunday.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use s in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for s (1 of 10)

s

symbol for
  1. second (of time)

British Dictionary definitions for s (2 of 10)

s

S

/ (ɛs) /


nounplural s's, S's or Ss
  1. the 19th letter and 15th consonant of the modern English alphabet

  2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually an alveolar fricative, either voiceless, as in sit, or voiced, as in dogs

    • something shaped like an S

    • (in combination): an S-bend in a road

British Dictionary definitions for S (3 of 10)

S

symbol for
  1. satisfactory

  2. Society

  1. small (size)

  2. South

  3. chem sulphur

  4. physics

    • entropy

    • siemens

    • strangeness

  5. currency

    • (the former) schilling

    • sol

    • (the former) sucre

abbreviation for
  1. Sweden (international car registration)

British Dictionary definitions for -'s (4 of 10)

-'s

suffix
  1. forming the possessive singular of nouns and some pronouns: man's; one's

  2. forming the possessive plural of nouns whose plurals do not end in -s: children's

  1. forming the plural of numbers, letters, or symbols: 20's; p's and q's

  2. informal contraction of is or has: he's here; John's coming; it's gone

  3. informal contraction of us with let: let's

  4. informal contraction of does in some questions: where's he live?; what's he do?

Origin of -'s

4
senses 1, 2: assimilated contraction from Middle English -es, from Old English, masculine and neuter genitive singular; sense 3, equivalent to -s 1

British Dictionary definitions for -s' (5 of 10)

-s'

suffix
  1. forming the possessive of plural nouns ending in the sound s or z and of some singular nouns: girls'; for goodness' sake

British Dictionary definitions for -s (6 of 10)

-s1

suffix
  1. forming the plural of most nouns: boys; boxes

Origin of -s

6
from Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

British Dictionary definitions for -s (7 of 10)

-s2

suffix
  1. forming the third person singular present indicative tense of verbs: he runs; she washes

Origin of -s

7
from Old English (northern dialect) -es, -s, originally the ending of the second person singular

British Dictionary definitions for -s (8 of 10)

-s3

suffix
  1. forming nicknames and names expressing affection or familiarity: Fats; Fingers; ducks

Origin of -s

8
special use of -s 1

British Dictionary definitions for s. (9 of 10)

s.

abbreviation for
  1. see

  2. semi-

  1. shilling

  2. singular

  3. son

  4. succeeded

British Dictionary definitions for S. (10 of 10)

S.

abbreviation for
  1. plural SS Saint

  2. school

  1. Sea

  2. Signor

  3. Society

Origin of S.

10
Latin socius

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

Scientific definitions for s (1 of 2)

s

  1. Abbreviation of second (of time), second (of an arc)

Scientific definitions for S (2 of 2)

S

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