A-

1.
atomic (used in combination):
A-bomb; A-plant.

a-1

1.
a reduced form of the Old English preposition on, meaning “on,” “in,” “into,” “to,” “toward,” preserved before a noun in a prepositional phrase, forming a predicate adjective or an adverbial element (afoot; abed; ashore; aside; away), or before an adjective (afar; aloud; alow), as a moribund prefix with a verb (acknowledge), and in archaic and dialectal use before a present participle in -ing (set the bells aringing); and added to a verb stem with the force of a present participle (ablaze; agape; aglow; astride; and originally, awry).
Origin
Middle English, late Old English; cf. a2, nowadays

a-2

1.
a reduced form of the Old English preposition of: akin; afresh; anew.
Origin
Middle English; see a3

a-3

1.
an old point-action prefix, not referring to an act as a whole, but only to the beginning or end: She arose (rose up). They abided by their beliefs (remained faithful to the end).
Origin
Middle English; Old English a- (unstressed), ǣ-, ā-, ō- (stressed; see abb, woof1, oakum), rarely or- (see ordeal) ≪ Germanic *uz- < unstressed Indo-European *uss- < *ud-s, akin to out; in some cases confused with a-4, as in abridge

a-4

1.
variant of ab- before p and v: aperient; avert.
Origin
Middle English < Latin ā-, a- (variant of ab- ab-); in some words < French a- < Latin ab-, as in abridge

a-5

1.
variant of ad-, used: (1) before sc, sp, st (ascend) and (2) in words of French derivation (often with the sense of increase, addition):
amass.
Origin
Middle English, in some words < Middle French a- < Latin ad- prefix or ad preposition (see ad-), as in abut; in others < Latin a- (variant of ad- ad-), as in ascend

a-6

1.
variant of an-1. before a consonant, meaning “not,” “without”:
amoral; atonal; achromatic.
British Dictionary definitions for A-

a-1

prefix
1.
not; without; opposite to: atonal, asocial
Word Origin
from Greek a-, an- not, without

a-2

prefix
1.
on; in; towards: afoot, abed, aground, aback
2.
(literary or archaic) (used before a present participle) in the act or process of: come a-running, go a-hunting
3.
in the condition or state of: afloat, alive, asleep

an-

prefix
1.
not; without: anaphrodisiac
Word Origin
from Greek
Word Origin and History for A-

a-

in native (derived from Old English) words, it most commonly represents Old English an "on" (see a (2)), as in alive, asleep, abroad, afoot, etc., forming adjectives and adverbs from nouns; but it also can be Middle English of, as in anew, abreast (1590s); or a reduced form of Old English past participle prefix ge-, as in aware; or the Old English intensive a-, as in arise, awake, ashame, marking a verb as momentary, a single event. In words from Romanic languages, often it represents Latin ad- "to, at."

[I]t naturally happened that all these a- prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and the resultant a- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic, or even archaic, and wholly otiose. [OED]

prefix meaning "not," from Latin a-, short for ab "away from" (e.g. avert), or its cognate, Greek a-, short for apo "away from, from," both cognate with Sanskrit apa "away from," Gothic af, Old English of (see apo-).

prefix meaning "not," from Greek a-, an- "not," from PIE root *ne "not" (see un-).

A- in Medicine

a- or an-
pref.
Without; not: acellular.

A- in Science
a-  
A prefix meaning "without" or "not" when forming an adjective (such as amorphous, without form, or atypical, not typical), and "absence of" when forming a noun (such as arrhythmia, absence of rhythm). Before a vowel or h it becomes an- (as in anhydrous, anoxia).