dough

noun

ˈdō 

1

: a mixture that consists essentially of flour or meal and a liquid (such as milk or water) and is stiff enough to knead or roll

2

: something resembling dough especially in consistency

3

: money

doesn't have much dough

4

military : doughboy

doughlike

ˈdō-ˌlīk 

adjective

Synonyms

• bread [slang]
• bucks
• cabbage [slang]
• cash
• change
• chips
• coin
• currency
• gold
• green
• jack [slang]
• kale [slang]
• legal tender
• lolly [British]
• long green [slang]
• loot
• lucre
• money
• moola [slang]
• moolah
• needful
• pelf
• scratch [slang]
• shekels
• sheqels
• shekelim
• shekalim
• sheqalim
• tender
• wampum

Examples of dough in a Sentence

I don't have much dough.

didn't have to spend a lot of dough for a new stereo

Recent Examples on the Web

Size: Butcher blocks offer an extra-large work surface that’s perfect for tasks such as chopping and rolling out dough. —Bestreviews, Mercury News, 19 June 2025

After an hour's rest under a damp cloth, each dough ball was gently opened by hand to form the classic bagel hole in the center, no rolling required. —Elizabeth Fogarty, Better Homes & Gardens, 18 June 2025

Sony is certainly hoping that the movie will bring in massive amounts of dough at the box office. —Angelique Jackson, Variety, 17 June 2025

Akroyd is creating a 606 pizza for the new restaurant, Lappas said, and the chef will use pizza dough to bake bread in house for sandwiches. —Louisa Kung Liu Chu, Chicago Tribune, 16 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English doh, dogh, dowe, going back to Old English dāg, going back to Germanic *daiga- (whence Middle Dutch deech "dough," Old High German teig, Old Norse deig, deigr, Gothic daigs), ablaut derivative from the base of *digan-, *dīgan- "to knead, shape" (whence Gothic digan, gadigan "to knead, form from clay"), going back to Indo-European *d^hei̯ǵ^h- "knead, shape" — more at feign

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing dough

• dough box
• mother dough
• rolling in (the) dough

Rhymes for dough

• beau
• beaux
• blow
• boe
• bro
• coe
• crow
• doe
• doh
• eau
• eaux
• faux

Kids Definition

dough

noun

ˈdō 

1

: a soft mass of moistened flour or meal thick enough to knead or roll

2

: something resembling dough especially in consistency

3

: money sense 1a

doughy

ˈdō-ē

adjective