et al

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Explanation of "et al"

Definition:
"Et al." is a Latin abbreviation that stands for "et alii," which means "and others." It is used in English to refer to a group of people or things without listing them all. This term is often used in academic writing, especially when citing sources with multiple authors.

Usage Instructions:

• Use "et al." when you want to mention one or more authors in a citation but you don't want to list every author’s name.
• Typically, "et al." is used after the first author's name when a work has three or more authors.

Example:

• If you are citing a research paper written by John Smith, Sarah Jones, and Michael Brown, you would write: "Smith et al. (2020) found that..." This means you are acknowledging that there are other authors besides John Smith, but you are not naming them all.

Advanced Usage:

• In formal writing, especially in academic contexts, make sure to use "et al." correctly according to the specific citation style (like APA, MLA, or Chicago) you are following. Different styles might have different rules about when to use it.

Word Variants:

• There are no direct variants of "et al." as it is a specific abbreviation. However, its full Latin forms are:
  • Et alii (masculine plural)
  • Et aliae (feminine plural)
  • Et alia (neuter plural)

Different Meanings:

• "Et al." primarily refers to people, but it can be used in some contexts to refer to other items or things in a list or collection, though this is less common.

Synonyms:

• "And others"
• "And the rest"
• "And so forth" (though this is generally used for items rather than people)

Idioms and Phrasal Verbs:

• "Et al." does not have specific idioms or phrasal verbs associated with it, as it primarily functions as an abbreviation in formal writing.

Summary:

In summary, "et al." is a useful term for simplifying citations and referring to groups of authors or contributors without listing every name.

Academic

Adverb

1. and elsewhere (used when referring to other occurrences in a text)
2. and others ('et al.' is used as an abbreviation of `et alii' (masculine plural) or `et aliae' (feminine plural) or `et alia' (neuter plural) when referring to a number of people)
   • the data reported by Smith et al.

Synonyms

• et al.
• et alibi
• et alii
• et aliae
• et alia