car

1 of 2

noun

ˈkär 

 dialectal also  ˈkȯr,

ˈkyär

1

: a vehicle moving on wheels: such as

a

archaic : carriage, chariot

b

: a vehicle designed to move on rails (as of a railroad)

The train has 20 cars.

c

: automobile

traveled to Boston by car

2

: the passenger compartment of an elevator

3

: the part of an airship or balloon that carries the passengers and cargo

CAR

2 of 2

abbreviation

civil air regulations

Synonyms

Noun

• auto
• automobile
• bus
• horseless carriage
• machine
• motor
• motorcar
• motor vehicle
• wheels [slang]

Examples of car in a Sentence

Noun

I'll wait in the car.

He got into the car and drove away.

She bought a new car.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The car rental service operates in 16,000 cities in the U.S., Australia, France, the U.K. and Canada. —Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2025

Autonomous cars steal the headlines in public discussions about artificial intelligence (AI) and physical AI. —Sabbir Rangwala, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025

Though fans were hung up on the large pearl ring in Z’s car selfie, the actor was trying to show off a different accessory. —Whitney Perry, Glamour, 2 Jan. 2025

The truck Din Jabbar drove was rented from the peer-to-peer car rental company Turo, as was the Cybertruck that burst into flames in Las Vegas. —Greg Wehner, Fox News, 2 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English carre "cart, wagon, small cartload," borrowed from Anglo-French carre, charre, going back to Late Latin carra, plural of carrum "vehicle, cart," going back to Latin, neuter variant of carrus "a kind of Gaulish wagon," borrowed from the Gaulish outcome of Celtic *kr̥s-o-, whence also Old Irish carr "cart, wagon," Welsh car "vehicle" — more at current entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing car

• bar car
• buffet car
• bumper car
• by car
• cabin car
• cable car
• car bomb
• car boot sale
• car coat
• car park
• car pool
• car seat
• car wash
• chair car
• club car
• command car
• company car
• concept car
• dining car
• estate car
• freight car
• funny car
• getaway car
• grand touring car
• Indy car
• jaunting car
• lounge car
• motor car
• multistorey car park
• muscle car
• pace car
• panda car
• parlor car
• passenger car
• patrol car
• police car
• prowl car
• put the car in/into gear
• race car
• racing car
• radio car
• rent-a-car
• restaurant car
• scout car
• sleeping car
• slot car
• sports car
• sprint car
• squad car
• stock car
• tank car
• touring car
• town car

Kids Definition

car

noun

ˈkär 

1

: a vehicle (as an automobile or part of a passenger train) moving on wheels

2

: the passenger compartment of an elevator

3

: the part of a balloon or an airship that carries the passengers and equipment