Word.ws English Dictionary

pat

/pæt/

pat noun: the sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep. Also the clipping of patent.

Noun (1)

pat (plural pats)

  1. The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep.
    • We heard a pat on the door.
  2. A light tap or slap, especially with the hands.
    • Give Mary a pat on the shoulder to get her attention.
  3. A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
    • It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 45, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC

Verb

pat (third-person singular simple present pats, present participle patting, simple past and past participle patted or (colloquial) pat)

  1. To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
    • To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
    • He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 103
  2. To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
    • I patted the cookie dough into shape.
    • Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC
  3. (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, UK) To stroke or fondle (an animal). Compare pet.
    • Do you want to pat the cat?
  4. To gently rain.

Adjective (1)

pat (comparative more pat, superlative most pat)

  1. Exactly suitable, fitting, apt; timely, convenient, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken.
    • a pat expression
    • Your scruples and arguments bring to my mind a story so pat, you may think it is coin’d, on purpose to answer you, out of my mint; but, I can assure you, I saw it in print.1788, William Cowper, Pity For Poor Africans 17–20
  2. Trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality.
    • While most AIDS activists and researchers I spoke with agreed I shouldn't offer pat safe/unsafe categories, let me share some pretty widely accepted information.1987 August 15, Laurie Sherman, “What's A Dyke To Do? A Lesbian Reluctantly Enters The Age Of Safe Sex”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 5, page 11
    • The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects.2010 May 22, “Jobs and the Class of 2010”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Adverb

pat (comparative more pat, superlative most pat)

  1. Opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
    • Now might I do it patc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  2. Perfectly.
    • He has the routine down pat.
  3. Straight, right, exactly, precisely.
    • Wauwa Pease says of the strategic position of the Pirates in the dining room: “They have taken the table near the upper doorway so they can make a speedy exit in case their lair is raided.” Of course, the Wauwas stand pat in the middle of the dining room, having nothing to fear.1922 September 22, “At the Wauwatosa Table”, in City Club News, volume viii, number 2, Milwaukee, page 7
    • His nose sitteth flat on the face of him as it were a dab of clay, and I can see pat up his nostrils a summer day’s journey into his head.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 8

Adjective (2)

pat (comparative more pat, superlative most pat)

  1. (slang) Upper-class, nobby.

Noun (2) capitalized: PAT

PAT (countable and uncountable, plural PATs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of point after touchdown (“extra point”).
  2. (abbreviation, initialism, Alberta) Initialism of provincial achievement test.
  3. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of portable appliance testing.
  4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of port address translation.
  5. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of protocol associated type.
    • Protocols are abstract as they are, but with PATs, you’re making your protocols generic, which makes your code even more abstract and exponentially complex.2019, Tjeerd in 't Veen, chapter 8, in Swift in Depth, Manning, →ISBN
  6. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of personal access token.
  7. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of paroxysmal atrial tachycardia.
  8. (US, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of priority air traffic.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: PAT

PAT

  1. (Quebec, abbreviation) Abbreviation of Pointe-aux-Trembles: a municipality of Quebec, Canada.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Pat

Pat (plural Pats)

  1. A diminutive of the female given name Patricia.
  2. A diminutive of the male given name Patrick.
    • One Nation, a new 501(c)4 linked to the Karl-Rove-backed American Crossroads super PAC, is spending more than $1.9 million on print, radio and digital ads highlighting the efforts of Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman...2015 May 12, Alexandra Jaffe, “First on CNN: New Rove-linked group spends $2M to boost GOP incumbents”, in CNN

Noun (3) capitalized: Pat

Pat (plural Pats)

  1. (offensive, possibly, slang) An Irish person.
    • I'll do it, sir, by the honor of the Pats, just take your two good looking selves into the garden, […]1868, Irish Assurance and Yankee Modesty, page 18
    • The stereotypes of the Irish were more negative. Irish men, the “Pats,” were seen as “always drunk, eternally fighting, lazy, and shiftless.”2015, David Wagner, Miracle Worker and the Transcendentalist, page 28
    Synonyms:
    Paddy

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Pat

Pat (plural Pats)

  1. A surname from Khmer or Yucatec Maya.

Also used as

pat is also the clipping of patent.

pat is also the clipping of pattern.

pat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

pat in Hindi

पट, पैट

pat in Tamil

பாட்

pat in Marathi

पॅट, पट

pat in Urdu

پاٹ
More languagesFewer languages
pat in Bengali
প্যাট
pat in Telugu
పాట్, ప్యాట్
pat in Malayalam
പാറ്റ്
pat in Kannada
ಪ್ಯಾಟ್, ಪಾಟ್
pat in Punjabi
ਪੈਟ, ਪਟ
pat in Gujarati
થાબડવું thābaṛvũ
pat in Odia
ପାଟ୍, ପ୍ଯ଼ାଟ୍, ପ୍ଯ଼ାଟ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
pat in Nepali
पट, प्याट

Examples of pat in a sentence

  • Space Jam: A New Legacy takes almost nothing but wrong turns, all leading to a glittering CGI trash heap of cameos, pat life lessons, and stale internet catchphrases.2021 July 14, A. A. Dowd, “Space Jam: A New Legacy is one big, witless commercial for Warner Bros properties”, in The A.V. Club:
  • Pat responses from management seemed to be multiple variations on the theme of “We value your feedback.”2021, Kate Crawford, chapter 2, in Atlas of AI […] , →ISBN:
  • Candidates in gubernatorial campaigns must stand pat in the middle, trying to push their rivals off the center line, charging the opponent with either left or right extremism.1962, Newsweek:
  • In Ogoni[land], Shell locations lie pat in the middle of villages, in front and back gardens – and that should lay a particular responsibility on Shell to be absolutely cautious in its operations.1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, A Month and a Day, page 112:

All 40 example sentences with pat

Synonyms of pat

14 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of pat

Forms of pat

Noun
pluralpats
pluralPATs
pluralPats
Verb
third-person singular presentpats
present participlepatting
past participlepatted
pastpatted
past participle (colloquial)pat
past (colloquial)pat
Adjective
comparativemore pat
superlativemost pat
Adverb
comparativemore pat
superlativemost pat
Proper noun
pluralPats

Past tense of pat: patted

Plural of pat: pats

Origin of pat

From Middle English pat (“a blow, stroke”), alteration (with loss of medial l) of *plat (> Scots plat (“a blow, buffet”)), from Old English plætt (“a sounding blow, a smack”), from Proto-West Germanic *platt (“a smack, slap, blow”), from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plat (“a smack, blow, slap”), Middle Low German plat (“a smack, blow, beating”), Middle High German plaz, blaz (“a resounding blow, bang, crash”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.

From Middle English *patten, alteration (with loss of medial l) of platten, pletten (“to pat”), from Old English plættan (“to buffet, strike, slap, smack, give a sounding blow”), from Proto-West Germanic *plattjan, from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch platten, pletten (“to strike, bruise, crush, rub”), German platzen (“to split, burst, break up”), Bavarian patzen (“to pat”), Swedish plätta, pjätta (“to pat, tap”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.

Clipping of patrician.

Words formed from pat

Phrases with pat

Words that rhyme with pat

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pat

What does pat mean?
Pat means the sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep.
What is pat in Hindi?
Pat in Hindi is पट, पैट. See Pat meaning in Hindi.
How do you use pat in a sentence?
Space Jam: A New Legacy takes almost nothing but wrong turns, all leading to a glittering CGI trash heap of cameos, pat life lessons, and stale internet catchphrases.
What part of speech is pat?
Pat can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce pat?
Pat is pronounced /pæt/.
What is the plural of pat?
The plural of pat is pats.

Words near pat in the dictionary

  1. Pasuquin
  2. Pasuruan
  3. Pasvalys
  4. Paszkiewicz
  5. Paszkiewiczes
  6. pat
  7. Pat and Mick
  8. pat down
  9. Pat Heung
  10. pat leave
  11. pat leaves

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pat (page history and authors); PAT (page history and authors); Pat (page history and authors); pat (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pat (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pat.wav, en-us-pat.ogg, en-au-pat.ogg.

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