LA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does LA mean? 

• LA (noun)
  The noun LA has 3 senses:

1. a white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily; occurs in rare earth minerals and is usually classified as a rare earth

2. a state in southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War

3. the syllable naming the sixth (submediant) note of a major or minor scale in solmization

  Familiarity information: LA used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily; occurs in rare earth minerals and is usually classified as a rare earth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

atomic number 57; La; lanthanum

Hypernyms ("La" is a kind of...):

metal; metallic element (any of several chemical elements that are usually shiny solids that conduct heat or electricity and can be formed into sheets etc.)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A state in southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

LA; La.; Louisiana; Pelican State

Instance hypernyms:

American state (one of the 50 states of the United States)

Meronyms (parts of "LA"):

Baton Rouge; capital of Louisiana (capital of Louisiana)

Red; Red River (a tributary of the Mississippi River that flows eastward from Texas along the southern boundary of Oklahoma and through Louisiana)

Ouachita; Ouachita River (a river that rises in western Arkansas and flows southeast into eastern Louisiana to become a tributary of the Red River)

Shreveport (a city in northwest Louisiana on the Red River near the Texas border)

New Orleans (a port and largest city in Louisiana; located in southeastern Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi river; a major center for offshore drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico; jazz originated here among black musicians in the late 19th century; Mardi Gras is celebrated here each year)

Morgan City (a town in southeast Louisiana to the south of Baton Rouge)

Monroe (a town in north central Louisiana)

Lafayette (a town in south central Louisiana; settled by Acadians)

Alexandria (a town in Louisiana on the Red River)

Holonyms ("LA" is a part of...):

America; the States; U.S.; U.S.A.; United States; United States of America; US; USA (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776)

Gulf States (a region of the United States comprising states bordering the Gulf of Mexico; Alabama and Florida and Louisiana and Mississippi and Texas)

South (the region of the United States lying to the south of the Mason-Dixon line)

Deep South (the southeastern region of the United States: South Carolina and Georgia and Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana; prior to the American Civil War all these states produced cotton and permitted slavery)

Holonyms ("LA" is a member of...):

Confederacy; Confederate States; Confederate States of America; Dixie; Dixieland; South (the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The syllable naming the sixth (submediant) note of a major or minor scale in solmization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

la; lah

Hypernyms ("la" is a kind of...):

solfa syllable (one of the names for notes of a musical scale in solmization)

 Context examples 

Well, tra la, and if you tackle Latin, Martin, I won't have any respect for you.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And we fell back on the guitar-case, and the flower-painting, and the songs about never leaving off dancing, Ta ra la! and were as happy as the week was long.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Silence a la mort," replied Laurie, with a melodramatic flourish, as he went away.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There is la petite peeping from behind the door.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

La! my dear, said Maria, quite shocked at the mistake, it is not Lady Catherine.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

La! Miss Dashwood, do you think people make love when any body else is by?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Et cela doit signifier, said she, qu'il y aura la dedans un cadeau pour moi, et peut-etre pour vous aussi, mademoiselle.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Laís Canniatti Brazaca, a physician and researcher at the São Carlos Chemistry Institute and one of the authors of the study published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, told: The concentrations of various metabolites in tears reflect concurrent blood levels, making them an attractive medium for non-invasive monitoring of physiological parameters.

(Brazilian researchers eye biosensors to monitor diabetes, SciDev.Net)

They found a notable difference between more impacted nearshore reefs in the Florida Keys and the heavily protected offshore reefs in Cuba such as Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen), the largest protected area in the Caribbean, located about 50 miles off the southern coast of Cuba.

(Microbes reflect the health of coral reefs, National Science Foundation)

"That's my only comfort." And, touching her hat a la Laurie, away went Jo, feeling like a shorn sheep on a wintry day.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)