jab
/d͡ʒæb/
jab noun: a quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.
Noun
jab (plural jabs)
- A quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.
- He tore in for the ball, make a running jab for it and held it.1952, Bernard Malamud, The Natural, Chapter 9
- A short straight punch.
- American Ward was too quick and too slick for his British rival, landing at will with razor sharp jabs and hooks and even bullying Froch at times.2011 December 18, Ben Dirs, “Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 10 Apr 2022
- A medical hypodermic injection (vaccination or inoculation).
- Our dog was exposed to rabies, so the whole family went to a clinic to get our jabs.
- A vaccination, whether or not delivered by means of a conventional injection.
- A 'painless' sticking plaster flu jab that delivers vaccine into the skin has passed important safety tests in the first trial in people.2017 June 28, Michelle Roberts, “Painless flu jab patch for people scared of injections”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 03 Aug 2021
- A mild verbal insult.
Verb
jab (third-person singular simple present jabs, present participle jabbing, simple past and past participle jabbed)
- To poke or thrust abruptly, or to make such a motion.
- A barely audible groan welled up in the Captain's throat as the grinning Freedom Fighter circled around behind the helpless American Soldier. The groan sputtered into a strangled, "No… no… don't.... " as Randall felt the juicy tip of the man's tumescent cock jab against his hair-ringed, virgin...1991, Etienne, “In Enemy Hands”, in Drummer, number 151, archived from the original on 06 Feb 2026, page 32
- To deliver a quick punch.
- To give someone an injection.
- To vaccinate or inoculate someone.
- To make fun of, to mock.
- While the book's lasting appeal is remarkable, the work is worth little scholarly attention insofar as Twain is merely jabbing at a long-dead set of social practices.2007, Joel A. Johnson, Beyond Practical Virtue: A Defense of Liberal Democracy Through Literature, University of Missouri Press, →ISBN
jab meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
jab in Hindi
- ज़ब
jab in Tamil
- குத்து, நிண்டு, முரட்டுத்தனமாகக் குத்து
jab in Urdu
- چبھونا, گھاؤ لگانا, بھونک دینا, انجکشن لگانا
jab in Bengali
- খোঁচা মারা, সজোরে ঠেলা দেওয়া, তাড়ন করা, অতর্কিত আঘাত হানা, গুঁতো মারা, খুঁচিয়ে বের করা
More languagesFewer languages
- jab in Telugu
- జబ్, జబ్ చేయండి
- jab in Malayalam
- കുത്തുക, തുളയ്ക്കുക
- jab in Kannada
- ತಿವಿತ, ಇರಿತ, ಹೊಡೆತ, ಚುಚ್ಚುಮದ್ದು ಹಾಕುವುದು
- jab in Punjabi
- ਜੱਬ, ਜੈਬ
- jab in Nepali
- जाब, जब्
- jab in Arabic
- لَكْمَة أَمَامِيَّة
- jab in Thai
- หมัดหน้า, หมัดแย็บ
Examples of jab in a sentence
- The jab is most commonly used as a setup for other strikes.
- The pan-Covid jab is set to enter human trials within months.
- It comes just days before Freedom Day, with ministers urging everyone to get double jabbed.
Synonyms of jab
18 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of jab
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | jabs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | jabs |
| present participle | jabbing |
| past participle | jabbed |
| past | jabbed |
Origin of jab
Originally a Scottish (unclear if Scots or Scottish English) form of English job (“peck, poke, thrust”), from Middle English jobben.
Words formed from jab
Phrases with jab
Words that rhyme with jab
Questions about jab
- What does jab mean?
- Jab means a quick stab or blow; a poking or thrusting motion.
- What is jab in Hindi?
- Jab in Hindi is ज़ब. See Jab meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is jab?
- Jab can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce jab?
- Jab is pronounced /d͡ʒæb/.
- What is the plural of jab?
- The plural of jab is jabs.
Words near jab in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jab (page history and authors); jab (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jab (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jab (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jab (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jab (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jab (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jab (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jab (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jab (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-au-jab.ogg.
Cite this entry: “jab.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jab. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.