MA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does MA mean? 

• MA (noun)
  The noun MA has 4 senses:

1. informal terms for a mother

2. a master's degree in arts and sciences

3. one thousandth of an ampere

4. a state in New England; one of the original 13 colonies

  Familiarity information: MA used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Informal terms for a mother

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

ma; mama; mamma; mammy; mom; momma; mommy; mum; mummy

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

female parent; mother (a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A master's degree in arts and sciences

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

AM; Artium Magister; MA; Master of Arts

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

master's degree (an academic degree higher than a bachelor's degree but lower than a doctor's degree)

Sense 3

Meaning:

One thousandth of an ampere

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

mA; milliampere

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

current unit (a measure of the amount of electric charge flowing past a circuit point at a specific time)

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

A; amp; ampere (the basic unit of electric current adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A state in New England; one of the original 13 colonies

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Bay State; MA; Mass.; Massachusetts; Old Colony

Instance hypernyms:

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

Meronyms (parts of "MA"):

Taconic Mountains (a range of the Appalachian Mountains along the eastern border of New York with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont)

Merrimack; Merrimack River (a river that rises in south central New Hampshire and flows through Concord and Manchester into Massachusetts and empties into the Atlantic Ocean)

Housatonic; Housatonic River (a river that rises in western Massachusetts and flows south through Connecticut to empty into Long Island Sound)

Charles; Charles River (a river in eastern Massachusetts that empties into Boston Harbor and that separates Cambridge from Boston)

Berkshire Hills; Berkshires (a low mountain range in western Massachusetts; a resort area)

Williamstown (a town in northwestern Massachusetts)

Salem (a city in northeastern Massachusetts; site of the witchcraft trials in 1692)

Plymouth (a town in Massachusetts founded by Pilgrims in 1620)

Cape Cod Canal (a canal connecting Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay)

Cape Cod (a Massachusetts peninsula to the south of Boston extending into the Atlantic; a popular resort area)

Cape Ann (a Massachusetts peninsula to the north of Boston extending into the Atlantic Ocean)

Worcester (an industrial and university city in central Massachusetts to the west of Boston)

Springfield (a city and manufacturing center in southwestern Massachusetts on the Connecticut River)

Pittsfield (a town in western Massachusetts)

Medford (town in northeastern Massachusetts; residential suburb of Boston)

Lexington (town in eastern Massachusetts near Boston where the first battle of the American Revolution was fought)

Gloucester (a town in northeastern Massachusetts on Cape Ann to the northeast of Boston; the harbor has been a fishing center for centuries)

Concord (town in eastern Massachusetts near Boston where the first battle of the American Revolution was fought)

Cambridge (a city in Massachusetts just to the north of Boston; site of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Bean Town; Beantown; Boston; capital of Massachusetts; Hub of the Universe (state capital and largest city of Massachusetts; a major center for banking and financial services)

Domain member region:

Concord; Lexington; Lexington and Concord (the first battle of the American Revolution (April 19, 1775))

Holonyms ("MA" 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)

New England (a region of northeastern United States comprising Maine and New Hampshire and Vermont and Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Connecticut)

 Context examples 

Once I was wicked enough to stop in a thrilling place, and say meekly, 'I'm afraid it tires you, ma'am.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They used to watch him—servants will, you know, ma'am—and he set store on her past everything: for all, nobody but him thought her so very handsome.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Do you mean the house, ma'am?” asked my mother.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Are you quite sure, ma'am?—is not there a little mistake?” said Jane.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"What a great traveller you must have been, ma'am!" said Mrs Musgrove to Mrs Croft.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Yes, ma'am, I thank you; we could not have had a nicer day.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“No, ma'am, it is Miss Price; I am certain of its being Miss Price.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Ma foi, but they are very swift!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Boy Jim, ma’am,” said I.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Finally he said: I'll tell you what I'll do. Your remarks, ma'am, has some weight in them.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)