Word.ws English Dictionary

car

/kɑː/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Scotland[kʰäɾ]

car noun: a wheeled vehicle that moves independently, with at least three wheels, powered mechanically, steered by a driver and mostly for personal transportation but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry and a bus. Also the deliberate misspelling of cat.

car: a wheeled vehicle that moves independently, with at least three wheels, powered mechanically,...
Image: Jürgen Sindermann, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

car (plural cars)

  1. A wheeled vehicle that moves independently, with at least three wheels, powered mechanically, steered by a driver and mostly for personal transportation but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry and a bus.
    • in a car
    • He drove his car to the theatre.
  2. (archaic) A wheeled vehicle, drawn by a horse or other animal.
    • It shall suffice me to enioy your loue,
      Which whiles I haue, I thinke my selfe as great,
      As Caesar riding in the Romaine streete,
      With captiue kings at his triumphant Carre.1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC...
    • He has deserved it [armour], were it carbuncled
      Like holy Phoebus’ car.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    1. (archaic) A cart.
      • So it was agreed that the farmer shud sind his car to take his little bit o' furniture, an' that he shud remove an the following Thursday.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 526
    2. (archaic) A chariot.
    3. (UK, archaic, obsolete, Birmingham) A four-wheeled cab, as opposed to a (two-wheeled) Hansom cab.
  3. (Canada, US) An unpowered unit in a railroad train, used to hold either passengers or cargo.
    • The conductor coupled the cars to the locomotive.
    Synonyms:
    railcar, wagon, carriage
  4. A similar vehicle used in special contexts, such as mines, quarries, and mills.
  5. an individual vehicle, powered or unpowered, in a multiple unit.
    • The 11:10 to London was operated by a 4-car diesel multiple unit.
  6. A passenger-carrying unit in a subway or elevated train, whether powered or not.
    • From the frontmost car of the subway, he filmed the progress through the tunnel.
  7. A rough unit of quantity approximating the amount which would fill a railroad car.
    • We ordered five hundred cars of gypsum.
    • This market reports only one or two cars per day, selling by the hundred weight, and at a price a little lower than that of Indian corn.1907, Texas Agricultural, Mechanical College System, Bulletin, volumes 93-117, page 5
    Synonyms:
    carload, wagonload
  8. The moving, load-carrying component of an elevator or other cable-drawn transport mechanism.
    • Fix the car of the express elevator - the door is sticking.
  9. The passenger-carrying portion of certain amusement park rides, such as Ferris wheels.
    • The most exciting part of riding a Ferris wheel is when your car goes over the top.
    Synonyms:
    carriage
  10. The part of an airship, such as a balloon or dirigible, which houses the passengers and control apparatus.
    • Everything being apparently in readiness now, I stepped into the car of the balloon, […]1850, John Wise, A System of Aeronautics, page 152
    • "What about a car?" "The car will be my next care. I have already planned how it is to be made and attached. Meanwhile I will simply show you how capable my apparatus is of supporting the weight of each of us."1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    gondola, basket
  11. A sliding fitting that runs along a track.
    • On boats 25 feet or more, it is best to mount a mast car and track on the front of the mast so you can adjust the height of the pole above the deck.1995, Ken Textor, The New Book of Sail Trim, →ISBN, page 201
  12. (US) A floating perforated box for living fish.
  13. (US, slang) A clique or gang.

Noun (2)

car (plural cars)

  1. The first part of a cons in Lisp. The first element of a list.
    • The elements of a list are the successive cars along the "cdr chain." That is, the elements are the car, the car of the cdr, the car of the cdr of the cdr, etc.2000, Matt Kaufmann, Panagiotis Manolios, J Strother Moore, Computer-aided reasoning: an approach
    Antonyms:
    cdr

Proper noun (1) capitalized: CAR

CAR

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Central African Republic.
    • Decades of conflict in CAR mirror the instability in other fragile African states where reliance on Russia’s military offerings has become increasingly prevalent, amid an aggressive push by Moscow to lessen Western influence on the continent.2025 January 18, Nimi Princewill, “Across Africa, Russia is growing in influence. What might Moscow want?”, in CNN
  2. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Carolina (North Carolina or South Carolina, states in the United States of America)
  3. (Philippines, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Cordillera Administrative Region.

Noun (3) capitalized: CAR

CAR (countable and uncountable, plural CARs)

  1. (abbreviation, uncountable) Abbreviation of carnitine.
  2. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of chimeric antigen receptor.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Car

Car

  1. The most widespread of the Nicobarese languages spoken in the Nicobar Islands of India (ISO 839-3 code "caq").
    Synonyms:
    Car Nicobarese

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Car

Car

  1. A surname.

Also used as

car is also the deliberate misspelling of cat.

car meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

car in Hindi

automobile, a vehicle steered by a driver
गाड़ी gāṛī, कार kār

car in Tamil

automobile, a vehicle steered by a driver
மகிழுந்து makiḻuntu, வண்டி vaṇṭi, கார் kār

car in Marathi

automobile, a vehicle steered by a driver
कार kār, गाडी gāḍī

car in Urdu

automobile, a vehicle steered by a driver
گاڑی gāṛī, کار kār
More languagesFewer languages
car in Bengali
গাড়ি gaṛi, রথ roth
car in Telugu
కారు kāru, బండి baṇḍi, గాడి gāḍi, తేరు tēru
car in Malayalam
കാര് kārŭ
car in Kannada
ಕಾರು kāru
car in Punjabi
ਗੱਡੀ gaḍḍī, گَڈّی gaḍḍī
car in Gujarati
કાર kār
car in Odia
କାର୍ kār
car in Sanskrit
कारयान kārayāna
car in Sinhala
මෝටර රිය mōṭara riya
car in Assamese
গাড়ী gari
car in Nepali
कार kār
car in Pashto
موټر moṭar, تېزرفتار tezraftār
car in Tagalog
kotse, kar, awto, awtomobil
car in Arabic
سَيَّارَة sayyāra, عَرَبِيَّة ʕarabiyya, سيارة sayyāra, طوموبيل ṭumubīl
car in Malay
kereta
car in Indonesian
mobil, otomobil, oto
car in Persian
موتَر mōtar, خُودْرَو xūdraw, خُودْرو xūdrō, خودْرُو xodrow
car in Thai
รถยนต์ rót-yon, รถ rót
car in Vietnamese
xe hơi, ô tô, xe ô tô, xe
car in Myanmar
ကား ka:, ယဉ် yany
Dhivehi
ކާރު kāru, ކާރުތައް kārutak̊

Examples of car in a sentence

  • He was thinking about buying a brand new car.
  • I'm a stunt; ride in the car with some bump in the trunk.2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson...
  • If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars: […] .2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
  • The race around the Interlagos circuit in São Paolo effectively became a 12-lap dash to the flag when Valtteri Bottas triggered the safety car after he pulled his Mercedes over with engine trouble.2019 November 17, Sarah Holt, “Verstappen wins Brazilian GP as Ferraris collide AND Gasly and Sainz claim first F1 podiums”, in CNN:
  • Then, of course, there are the cars themselves.2020 September 19, Peter Valdes-Dapena, “I hate to say it, but Ferrari’s new convertible is worth every penny”, in CNN:

All 40 example sentences with car

Synonyms of car

10 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of car

Forms of car

pluralcars
pluralCARs
alternative form (archaic)carr

Plural of car: cars

Origin of car

Inherited from Middle English carre, borrowed from Anglo-Norman carre, from Old Northern French (compare Old French char), from Latin carrus (“two-wheeled baggage wagon”), from Gaulish *karros, from Proto-Celtic *karros (“wagon”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”). Doublet of carrus and horse.

Acronym of contents of the address part of register number. Note that it was based on original hardware and has no meaning today.

Words formed from car

Phrases with car

165 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with car

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about car

What does car mean?
Car means a wheeled vehicle that moves independently, with at least three wheels, powered mechanically, steered by a driver and mostly for personal transportation but relatively smaller than a truck/lorry and a bus.
What is car in Hindi?
Car in Hindi is गाड़ी (gāṛī), कार (kār). See Car meaning in Hindi.
How do you use car in a sentence?
He was thinking about buying a brand new car.
What part of speech is car?
Car can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce car?
Car is pronounced /kɑː/ (UK).
What is the plural of car?
The plural of car is cars.

Words near car in the dictionary

  1. caquelons
  2. Caquetio
  3. Caquetios
  4. Caquetá
  5. Caquinte
  6. car
  7. car alarm
  8. car alarms
  9. car attendant
  10. car attendants
  11. car barn

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: car (page history and authors); CAR (page history and authors); Car (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-a car.ogg, En-us-car.ogg.

Cite this entry: “car.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/car. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.