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abacus

[ab-uh-kuhs, uh-bak-uhs] / ˈæb ə kəs, əˈbæk əs /




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Calculators, cars and probably candles and the abacus were considered a menace to society.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 7, 2025

For example, you can add numbers perfectly using an abacus, in which wooden beads are pushed back and forth to represent arithmetic operations.

From Science Daily Oct. 30, 2023

Ms Truss, a former Treasury minister, accused her old department of promoting an "abacus economics" and insisted there needed to be a greater focus on stimulating economic growth.

From BBC Jul. 20, 2023

With an abacus and a slide rule, earlier helpmeets, you had to know something of the mathematical process.

From Washington Post Apr. 28, 2023

Penelope’s mind clickety-clacked like an abacus, trying to sort out this new information, but Lord Fredrick’s question demanded an answer.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

Other abaci emoji also have issues, but Apple’s is the worst offender And in the name of fairness, some abaci from different phone manufacturers are also off, historically speaking, but Apple’s is the worst offender.

From The Verge May 26, 2019

All three brands also use Western-style abaci, but with seven, six, and five beads, respectively, making them little more than depictions of toys.

From The Verge May 26, 2019

On the other hand, Samsung, Twitter, and WhatsApp’s abaci are also incorrect.

From The Verge May 26, 2019

Sitting at their abaci, with hot green tea and cold rice balls for refreshment, the election clerks diligently tallied their beads and the vote.

From Time Magazine Archive

One is cluttered with newspapers and tattlers and scandal sheets, another with petit-hourglasses and abaci.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

Much of the buzz around the subject in recent years has been about the development of powerful quantum computers which, the narrative goes, will make our fastest supercomputers seem like abacuses by comparison.

From BBC Mar. 2, 2025

The floating ships in the fantasy role-playing game Honkai: Star Rail are populated with traders, gourmets and literati who surf their texts on jade abacuses.

From New York Times Oct. 22, 2023

Sports are represented in the form of tiny windsurfers and badminton shuttlecocks, and he has acquired some oddities, like helicopters, pencil stubs, abacuses and matchbooks.

From New York Times Jul. 21, 2016

Behind him are displayed a 1,500-year-old sake pot, a vertical wall of abacuses and various objets d'art befitting a place walking distance from Little Tokyo.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 16, 2015

They used slates for writing, and abacuses, weights, and measures for math.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman




Vocabulary lists containing abacus


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