Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Informal An Easterner or city person who vacations on a ranch in the West.
- n. Informal A man who is very fancy or sharp in dress and demeanor.
- n. Slang A man; a fellow.
- n. Slang Persons of either sex.
- v. Slang To dress elaborately or flamboyantly: got all duded up for the show.
- interj. Slang Used to express approval, satisfaction, or congratulations.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A fop or exquisite, characterized by affected refinements of dress, speech, manners, and gait, and a serious mien; hence, by an easy extension, and with less of contempt, a man given to excessive refinement of fashion in dress.
Wiktionary
- n. slang A man.
- n. slang, used in the vocative A term of address for a man.
- n. originally An inexperienced cowboy.
- n. slang A tourist.
- n. archaic A dandy, a man who is very concerned about his dress and appearance.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Recent A kind of dandy; especially, one characterized by an ultrafashionable style of dress and other affectations.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
- n. an informal form of address for a man
Etymologies
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Back then, in the early 80s, the term "dude" was not yet a universal term for "pretty much any person in North America, male or female.”
“Saturday Night Live, in which the title dude fails every time to stop a bomb from going off using rubber bands, chewing gum, etc. Fine, funny.”
“I may very well be wrong, but I think this dude is the guy who started it too ... reynwrap582”
“And if you're old enough to be a member of AARP, the word "dude" should only be used if it's followed by the word "ranch".”
The Huffington Post: John Blumenthal: Are You Trying Too Hard to Make Your Kids Think You're Cool?
“This dude is a complete choad and I save that one for the truly special ….”
“This dude is a bad liar, how did he get elected???”
“This dude is an arrogant, narcissistic failure with no moral center, ethical core or wisdom!”
Pentagon officials: Obama to announce strategy 'early next week'
“For all I know this dude is an enforcer with the local chapter of Satan's Disciples and the Santa getup is merely a convenient way to confuse the Feds while he's making his weekly smack run.”
“It may not be totally obvious, but the OP hopes that the dude is attracted to her and pining for her until she leaves her husband.”
“I live in Illinois and for all of you who dont know barack obama .. ha ha i do .. the dude is a fraud and if elected you all will find out ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dude’.
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EN - Old Western Slang
a hog-killin' time, a lick and a promise, according to Hoyle, ace-high, all down but nine, arbuckle's, at sea, back down, balled up, bang-up, bazoo, bear sign and 212 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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Origin unknown
bamboozle, ballyhoo, banter, bludgeon, chad, cocktail, culvert, curmugeon, dildo, dude, dweeb, dyke and 51 more...
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everything
everythin?
a, i, aardvark, abdominals, any, anti-, ash, actuall, actually, add, abs, ass and 43 more...
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That's what she said and other spoken...
Once you start saying them, you can't seem to stop.
dude, cha-ching, meep, whatever, wha happen, that's what she said, talk to the hand, really?!, plinth, awesome, seriously?, ridonkulous and 3 more...
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Words of indeterminate origin
Words of which the origin is unknown.
(i.e. we don't know who coined them and they probably aren't derived from another language like Latin)fuddle, conundrum, grouse, scad, pod, culvert, dude, dahoon, bloke, hootenanny, gib, malarky and 5 more...
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words I heard while watching TV
Words I heard while watching TV. Could be anything.
necromonger, dude, the valley, the a.m., slick, nsaids, the matrix, the dude, bay area, neproxin, nsaids, renewal and 28 more...
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• How to make a worker cry (derogativ...
What?! And I'm supposed to pay for your lousy work, you... you...
dauber, pettifogger, tinker, quill-driver, rhymester, numbnuts, peer, cartophiling, notaphily, speleology, letterboxing, metrophile and 43 more...
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Words that piss me off....
What word really gets under your skin, drives you crazy, nuts or simply makes you see red?
like, far out, man, dude, takeaway, outside the box, utilize, frequent flyer, aversion, backlog, downsizing, audacity and 1 more...
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Pseudo-edge
The middle-aged corporate marketer's version of a teen lexicon.
ultimate, extreme, chillin, totally, bling, karma, stoke, smooth, flav, punch, ish, hype and 46 more...
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like words duh
almost-words teens/tweens use --or -- actualy words they use incorrectly
duh, no duh, duh, no duh, gwon, sh'up, nu-uh, iknow-a, no-a, ow-a, yup, s'up, c'moooon and 25 more...
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Ugliest Sounding Words
List words that sound ugly, regardless of meaning
kumquat, milk, meal, jizz, bubonic, fester, goulash, sasquatch, carbuncle, sieve, onomatopoeia, burlesque and 29 more...
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Kalli's Words
redundant, munchkin, escapade, natch, boom, fap, geek, nocturnal, pedantic, tactile, conversant, oxymoron and 188 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
niglets, aw, flakey, shiznit, thatch, sexy, bummers, hotty, eargasms, ratchetry, weird, fab and 588 more... -
What's That Pokémon Name?
Words used to create the names of Pokémon, which are usually portmanteaux.
bulb, dinosaur, ivy, venus, char, salamander, squirt, turtle, blast, tortoise, water, caterpillar and 525 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 2411 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dude.

Prolagus "An inexperienced cowboy". Well spotted, ruzuzu! Thanks! Dec 5, 2010
nzanh I hate this word! This is a word that is way overworked and far too informal to address strangers and figures of authority. But people do it everyday. Some people are so entranced by this word that they manage to use this word 5 times in a sentence. I'm 50 years old and don't appreciate a 20 something calling me this word. Dec 19, 2009
Ulrich What about including the urban dictionary? Jul 7, 2009
madmouth feminine: dudine (see OE) Jul 7, 2009
dontcry It cracks me up when my son calls me dude! Jul 31, 2008
gangerh Always liked this word. And all ways. Now I know why. Wilde being one of my Wordie heroes. Suddenly the word is cooler. Even mint. Dude is the new uberpersonword. May 7, 2008
whichbe The word "dude", which was coined by Oscar Wilde and his friends, is a portmanteau of the words 'duds' (for clothes) and 'attitude'. Unlike today, the word was considered derogatory until the 1960s.
May 7, 2008
yarb Maidenhead itself is too snobby to be pleasant. It is the haunt of the river swell and his overdressed female companion. It is the town of showy hotels, patronised chiefly by dudes and ballet girls.
- Jerome, Three Men in a Boat, 1889. Apr 3, 2008
poisonedblueeyes dude. Feb 21, 2008
kalli We, as in the royal we, like The Dude. El Duderino if you're not into that whole brevity thing. Oct 22, 2007
slumry The vogue word of 1883. Jul 17, 2007
seanahan The hilarious scene from "Dude, Where's My Car", consisting entirely of the words "Dude" and "Sweet". Jan 12, 2007
tankexmortis Who was it that said that in 50 years the only words left would be like and dude? Jan 12, 2007