Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use tab in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Tab means a small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc. Example: “How many tabs are open on your browser right now?”

Examples of tab by meaning

nounA small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification...

  • insert tab A into slot B
  • "His name was written upon a tab within it - Maple White, Lake Avenue, Detroit, Michigan."1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
  • He pulls off his belt, cursing as the studs catch in the tabs of his jeans.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Station to Station”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 333

nounThe page or form (for example, on a web browser or file manager) associated with such a navigational widget.

  • How many tabs are open on your browser right now?
  • That’s the relief I feel when clearing all the tabs in my internet browser.2020 December 11, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “Is your browser window full of open tabs? Time for a digital declutter”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

nounA restaurant bill.

  • to pick up the tab

nounCredit account, e.g., in a shop or bar; slate.

  • to start a tab
  • Put this round on my tab, please, barman.
  • As he fished a Visa credit card out of his green leather wallet, the bartender yelled out a question over the music: “Do you want to start a tab?” Mr.2025 May 31, Paula Mejía, “Gen Z Doesn’t Want to Start a Bar Tab”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company...

nounA space character that extends to the next aligned column, traditionally used for tabulation.

  • No no no no I don't, it's not hate, hate is a strong word, truth be told I do have a slight preference for tabs but that's only because I'm anal and because I prefer precision.2016 May 29, Carson Mell, “Bachmanity Insanity”, in Silicon Valley, season 3, episode 6, spoken by Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch)

verbTo use the Tab key on a computer to advance the cursor or move the input focus, or on a typewriter to advance the...

  • You can prevent a control from getting the focus when the user is tabbing between controls by settings its IsTabStop property to False.2010, Chris Anderson, Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4, page 210

nounA cigarette.

  • Lend us a tab!

nounA student of Cambridge University.

  • Before Rachel gets in with a stab at the Tabs' coxing efforts, may I say that my experience of coxes on the Isis is somewhat similar.1995 February 7, "Laser Cartridge" [username], “Re: Cambridge News, again.”, in rec.sport.rowing (Usenet)
  • Plus, there's always been a healthy rivalry between the tabs and us, but I'm sure this has nothing to do with it ;-)1998 January 17, whitey [username], “Re: Tab bashing (was University Challenge - Its pish)”, in rec.arts.tv.uk.misc (Usenet)
  • I hope the Tabs get beaten! :-) I support Oxford for no real reason but they have a bad habit of losing to Cambridge recently.2002 March 27, The Guv'nor [username], “Re: My target this week was...”, in uk.rec.bodybuilding (Usenet)

More sentences with tab

  • The man used his watch as barter to pay for his tab.From the entry barter
  • See? Nothing to it. You just put tab A in slot B and give it a flip.From the entry nothing to it
  • Collating was still necessary because they had to insert foldout sheets and index tabs into the documents.From the entry collate
  • The tab, carriage return, and line feed are all control characters.From the entry control character
  • During assembly, keep the tab oriented toward the slot that it will later enter.From the entry oriented
  • A tabbed browser can display a different webpage on each tab.From the entry tabbed
  • On our website you can keep tabs of the top scorers in Europe’s major leagues.From the entry top scorer
  • The command line offers a lot of helpful features, such as tab completion and wildcard expansion.From the entry command line
  • Let's go halvers on the tab tonight.From the entry halver
  • If you are careful to keep tabs on your finances, you should be able to stay within a budget.From the entry keep tabs on
  • The police kept close tabs on him during the holidays.From the entry keep tabs on
  • Owsley Stanley started cooking up those famous purple LSD tabs.From the entry cook up
  • I need to find a cash machine. I paid the tab at lunch, and now I have no cash left.From the entry cash machine
  • Let me tab out and check on that for you.From the entry tab out
  • The airplane's primary flight controls comprise elevators and ailerons driven by manually-controlled servo tabs, and a hydraulically-powered rudder and spoilerons.From the entry flight control
  • I have to swipe-tab from 'For you' to 'Following' tab to see the feed that I am interested in.From the entry swipe-tab
  • The TSV file contains people's names, with the first value being the first name and the second being the last name, delimited by a tab.From the entry TSV
  • And that customer picked up the tab of the person behind him.2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR. From the entry pick up the tab
  • Switch to bank 2 tab to see if money got through, it has timed out.2022 July 15, Jeff Gaines, “How To...”, in uk.people.silversurfers (Usenet). From the entry get through
  • Similar to the tabard, a huque was open at the sides except without tabs under the arms.2022 January 13, Daniel Delis Hill, History of World Dress and Fashion, Second Edition, Daniel Delis Hill, →ISBN, page 310. From the entry huque
  • Unfolded laundry tabs are the major cause of fabric balding so please use them.2021 April 22, “Tips for Washing Cloth Nappies”, in Ecoshop, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2025. From the entry laundry tab
  • Tab to the number specifying the number of overwrites and enter a number between 1 and 9.2014, Bruce Middleton, Conducting Network Penetration and Espionage in a Global Environment. From the entry overwrite
  • TAB is used with a certain subversive humour, to challenge the security of the 'able-bodied' position.[2014, Deborah Marks, Disability: Controversial Debates and Psychosocial Perspectives, page 18. From the entry temporarily able-bodied
  • From there, click the Notifications tab and scroll down to Groups.2011 February, Seth Porges, “Digital Clinic”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 188, number 2, page 105. From the entry curate
  • Go back to the iPod app on your iOS device and click on the “More” tab.2011 March 8, Keller Mike, “How To Enable iTunes Home Sharing in iOS 4.3”, in PCWorld, →ISSN, retrieved 22 Jun 2012. From the entry bazinga

Meaning of tab

  1. noun A small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.
  2. noun An ear.
  3. noun A navigational widget, resembling a physical tab, for switching between documents or sets of controls.

Full definition of tab

Questions about tab in a sentence

How do you use tab in a sentence?
Tab is used as a noun and verb. For example: “How many tabs are open on your browser right now?”
What is a short sentence with tab?
“Lend us a tab!”
What does tab mean?
Tab means a small flap or strip of material attached to or inserted into something, for holding, manipulation, identification, opening etc.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tab (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use tab in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/tab. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.