ABA

See also: Appendix:Variations of "aba"

Translingual

Symbol

ABA

1. (international standards, aviation) IATA airport code for Abakan International Airport, which serves Abakan, Khakassia, Russia.

English

Proper noun

ABA

1. (basketball) Initialism of American Basketball Association.
2. (boxing) Initialism of Amateur Boxing Association.
3. (law) Initialism of American Bar Association.
   • 2019 October 30, Ariane de Vogue and Alex Rogers, “‘Not qualified’ rating and accusation from American Bar Association moves Trump nominee to tears”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     The rare outburst comes as the ABA is under continued attack from conservatives who question its methodology and argue that the group that has rated potential nominees for decades is biased against conservatives.

   • 2025 April 9, Devan Cole, Donald Judd, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, “Trump targets two first-term critics, a law firm and the American Bar Association”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an internal memo obtained by CNN that department attorneys cannot travel to, or speak at, ABA events in their official capacity. Career employees, however, are still able to maintain their ABA membership.

4. (publishing) Initialism of American Booksellers Association.
5. Initialism of American Beverage Association.
   • 2014 November, “ABA Guidance for the Responsible Labeling and Marketing of Energy Drinks”, in CNN en Español‎^[3], archived from the original on 11 May 2025, page 1:

     Energy drink manufacturers will not sell or market their energy drink products in K-12 schools, in accordance with the industry’s School Beverage Guidelines and in the ABA statement regarding the Sale of Energy Drinks in Schools.

Noun

ABA (uncountable)

1. (psychology) Initialism of applied behavior analysis.
   • 2023, Naomi Klein, “Autism and the Anti-Vax Prequel”, in Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

     It is a direct echo of a notorious claim made by the psychologist credited with inventing applied behavior analysis (ABA), Ole Ivar Lovaas: in a 1987 article, he wrote that nearly half the children treated with his version of ABA became, according to their teachers, “indistinguishable from their normal friends.”

   • 2024 December 14, Annie Waldman, “UnitedHealth is strategically limiting access to critical treatment for kids with autism”, in CNN‎^[4]:

     The company has calculated that, in some states, this reduction could impact more than two-fifths of its ABA therapy provider groups in network and up to 19% of its patients in therapy.

2. (biochemistry) Initialism of abscisic acid, a plant hormone.
   • 1972, Davis LA, Addicott FT, “Abscisic Acid: Correlations with Abscission and with Development in the Cotton Fruit”, in Plant Physiology (journal), volume 49, number 4, page 644:

     Rudnicki and colleagues found ABA to increase with ripening of strawberry fruits (16) and of pears (17) and during the development of apple fruits (18).

Anagrams

• AAB, BAA, baa