# ad

Pronunciation: say "AD" /æd/

## Noun

1. Short for advertisement: a public message promoting something, such as a product, service, event, job, person or cause. — Abbreviation of advertisement.
   - Simple: Short for advertisement: a public message promoting something to buy, a job, an event, a person or a cause.
   - _The company ran a full-page ad in Sunday's paper._
   - _She posted an ad online to sell her old couch._
6. In tennis, advantage; also, the left-hand side of a player's half of the court, from the player's own view, where the advantage point after deuce is always played.
   - Simple: In tennis, short for advantage. Also the left side of the court, where the point after deuce is played.
   - _Her ace at deuce made the score ad in, and she won the game on the very next point._
   - _His slice serve into the ad court won him the game._
8. Clipped form of advertising: the promotion of goods and services as an activity or a business, found mostly in front of another noun.
   - Simple: A short way to say advertising, the business of getting people to buy things, mostly used before another noun.
   - _The ad industry spent the decade chasing audiences from television to social media._
   - _She spent twenty years as an ad executive before opening her own design studio._

## Adverb · AD

Pronunciation: say "ay-DEE" US /ˌeɪˈdi/, UK /ˌeɪˈdiː/

2. Initialism of Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of our Lord.” — Initialism of Anno Domini (borrowed from Latin); in the year of our Lord.
   - Simple: Initialism of Anno Domini. Used with dates in the time counted from the birth of Jesus.
   - _The mosaics on the chapel floor date from the fourth century AD._
   - _Pottery found at the site places the first settlement around AD 900._

## Noun · AD

3. Short for athletic director: the official who runs the sports programs of a school or college. *(US)*
   - Simple: Short for athletic director: the person in charge of the sports programs at a school or college.
   - _The university's AD fired the football coach after a third straight losing season._
   - _ADs from across the conference met to vote on the new travel rules._
4. Short for Alzheimer's disease: a brain disease, the most common cause of dementia, that slowly destroys memory and thinking. — Initialism of Alzheimer's disease. (pronounced: say "ay-DEE" US /ˌeɪˈdi/, UK /ˌeɪˈdiː/)
   - Simple: Short for Alzheimer's disease: a brain disease that slowly takes away memory and thinking.
   - _The trial enrolled two hundred patients with early AD._
   - _Researchers are testing whether the drug slows the progress of AD._
5. Short for assistant director: a person on a film or TV production who helps the director by organizing the schedule, cast and crew on set. — Initialism of assistant director. (pronounced: say "ay-DEE" US /ˌeɪˈdi/, UK /ˌeɪˈdiː/)
   - Simple: Short for assistant director: a person who helps a film or TV director run things on set.
   - _The first AD shouted for quiet before every take._
   - _Two ADs ran between the trailers rounding up the cast._
7. Short for audio description: a spoken track that describes what is happening on screen or stage for blind and partially sighted people. — Abbreviation of audio description. (pronounced: say "ay-DEE" US /ˌeɪˈdi/, UK /ˌeɪˈdiː/)
   - Simple: Short for audio description: spoken words describing screen or stage action for people who are blind or have poor sight.
   - _The broadcaster added AD to its entire drama lineup this year._
   - _The film's AD was recorded by a professional narrator._

## Other meanings

- (preposition) Used to mean to or toward, borrowed from the Latin preposition with the same spelling.
- (noun) Short for advertiser: a person or organization that uses advertisements to promote something.
- (noun) Short for antidepressant: a medicine used to treat depression and some other conditions, such as anxiety.
- (noun) Short for airworthiness directive: an official order from an aviation authority requiring action to correct an unsafe condition in aircraft, engines, propellers or equipment.
- (noun) Short for adenovirus: any of a family of DNA viruses that cause colds and eye and gut infections, also used as carriers in gene therapy and vaccines.
- (noun) Short for air defence or air defense: weapons, units and systems that protect against attack by aircraft, missiles or drones.
- (proper noun) Short for Abu Dhabi: the capital of the United Arab Emirates, or the emirate of which it is the capital.
- (noun) Initialism of auxiliary destroyer. In the US Navy, the hull classification symbol for a destroyer tender, a ship that supplies and repairs destroyers.
- (adjective) Short for antidumping: describing duties or measures against imports sold below their price in the home market or below cost.
- (noun) Initialism of after dark: on social media, an adult-only (18+) account run by a content creator.
- (noun) In debating, short for advantage.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3, 8** — A clipping of advertise, advertising, advertisement or advertiser.
**Meaning 6** — From a shortening of the word advantage.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ad (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).