A d

active duty.
art director.
-ssembly district.
-ssistant director.
athletic director.
average deviation.
a.d.1
in the year of the lord; since christ was born:
charlemagne was born in a.d. 742.
also, a.d.
usage note
a.d.

1570s, from latin anno domini “year of the lord.” first put forth by dionysius exiguus in 527 or 533 c.e., but at first used only for church business. introduced in italy in 7c., france (partially) in 8c. in england, first found in a charter of 680 c.e. ordained for all ecclesiastical doc-ments in england by the council of chelsea, july 27, 816.

the resistance to it in part might have come because dionysius chose 754 a.u.c. as the birth year of jesus, while many early christians would have thought it was 750 a.u.c. [see john j. bond, “handy-book of rules and tables for verifying dates with the christian era,” 4th ed., london: george bell & sons, 1889] a.c., for anno christi, also was common 17c.

an abbreviation used with a date, indicating how many years have p-ssed since the birth of jesus. the abbreviation may appear before the date (a.d. 1988), or it may appear after the date (1988 a.d.). it stands for anno domini, a latin phrase meaning “in the year of our lord.” (compare b.c.)

after date
latin ante diem (before the day)
autograph doc-ment

latin anno domini (in the year of our lord)
latin auris dexter (right ear)