(US, military) A military ration consisting of fresh, refrigerated, or frozen foods.
(US, military) A military ration consisting of fresh, refrigerated, or frozen foods.
"A-ration" means a military ration consisting of fresh, refrigerated, or frozen foods. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.
"A-ration" is informal English meaning a military ration consisting of fresh, refrigerated, or frozen foods. It is mainly used in North American English. A more formal or neutral equivalent would be something like "a military ration consisting of fresh" expressed in standard vocabulary. A common mistake is to assume "A-ration" can replace its standard equivalent in every register; keep it for spoken or casual situations and use the formal form in writing. If you are a B2 or C1 learner, it is useful to recognise this word when you hear or read it, but think carefully about whether the situation really calls for it before using it yourself.
"A-ration" means a military ration consisting of fresh, refrigerated, or frozen foods. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(US, military) An individual canned, precooked, or prepared wet ration formerly issued to land forces in the US military.
(slang, dated, World War I) A fussy or overly zealous military superior.
(chiefly US, military slang) : an individual field ration used by the US military.
(British, World War II, historical) A composition ration; a crate containing food, tea, soap, toilet paper etc. for 14 men for one day.
“The **A-ration** (officially **Field Ration, Type A**) is a [United States military ration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_ration "United States military ration") consisting of fresh, [refrigerated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigeration "Refrigeration"), or [frozen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_food "Frozen food") foods.”
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(slang, Antarctica) Fresh food, such as vegetables and eggs, that cannot be produced in Antarctica and must be imported.