dude

/dud/
/dud/
IPA guide

Other forms: dudes

Dude is a slang greeting term between men, meaning "guy" or "man." For example: "Dude! So, like, what's up?" It's been popularized by movies and TV shows, and has a distinctive whiff of American West Coast hippie culture to it.

In the American nineteenth century dude had another life as a term for a dandy — a particularly well-groomed and fancily-dressed young man. From this came the term of dude as meaning a big city dweller unfamiliar with the ways of the Wild West. When such types came out West to enjoy the rugged life, they stayed in "dude ranches," basically resorts or spas, not real working ranches, and the term is still around today.

Definitions of dude
  1. noun
    an informal form of address for a man
    synonyms: buster, fellow
    see moresee less
    type of:
    adult male, man
    an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
  2. noun
    a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
    synonyms: beau, clotheshorse, dandy, fashion plate, fop, gallant, sheik, swell
    see moresee less
    examples:
    George Bryan Brummell
    English dandy who was a fashion leader during the Regency (1778-1840)
    types:
    cockscomb, coxcomb
    a conceited dandy who is overly impressed by his own accomplishments
    macaroni
    a British dandy in the 18th century who affected Continental mannerisms
    type of:
    adult male, man
    an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
Pronunciation
US
/dud/
UK
/dud/
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Vocabulary lists containing dude

Least Presidential Vocabulary Used by Presidential Candidates during the GOP Debate (Sept. 16, 2015)

When Rand Paul attacked Donald Trump's sophomoric attacks on other candidates' personal appearance, he quipped that it was like "junior high," adding, "Are we not way above that?" A quick look at candidates' vocabularies shows that most, well, aren't. We could not resist creating a list. Behold the nominees in the category of "Least Presidential Vocabulary Used by Presidential Candidates." For more, see: "The Presidential (and Not So Presidential) Vocabulary of the Second GOP Debate."

Ben Zimmer's 30 Great American Words

Ben Zimmer is the executive producer of Vocabulary.com and the Visual Thesaurus. He is language columnist for The Boston Globe and the former "On Language" columnist for The New York Times Magazine. He has worked as editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press and as a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. He is also the chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society. We asked Ben, as an expert on the history of American English, to give us some of his favorite words that originated in the United States. "I'm fascinated by how the English language developed a unique American flavor (not flavour!) beginning in colonial times. I've been collecting examples of great contributions from American English. Here is a cornucopia of copacetic coinages from fertile American minds."

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