dude

noun \ ˈdüd also ˈdyüd \

Updated on: 19 May 2018

Definition of dude

1 : a man extremely fastidious in dress and manner : dandy

2 : a city dweller unfamiliar with life on the range (see ¹range 3b); especially : an Easterner in the West

3 : fellow, guy

The other girls in the program never go out, so I always find myself out with dudes from my program.
—Cosmopolitan

—sometimes used informally as a term of address

Hey, dude, what's up?

—

dudish

play \ˈd(y)üd-ish\ adjective

—

dudishly

adverb

See dude defined for English-language learners

See dude defined for kids

Examples of dude in a Sentence

a dude given to sporting expensive suits and flashy jewelry
OK, dude, whatever you say.

Recent Examples of dude from the Web

Football! Joe Buck!) and animation — tempting stuff for the advertisers trying to reach those ever-elusive millennial dudes.

— john koblin, New York Times, "Fox Trots Out Jamie Foxx and Tim Allen in Bid to Woo Advertisers," 15 May 2018
Generally, a dude in jorts wears them as some sort of joke fashion statement while women are un-ironically on trend, but those lines are often blurry.

— amy bartner, Indianapolis Star, "The 16 best jorts at the Indianapolis 500," 15 May 2018
The meme’s point is simple and easy to parse: An oblivious dude comically mistakes one thing for another thing.

— aja romano, Vox, "“Is this a meme?”: the confused anime guy and his butterfly, explained," 15 May 2018
In the comics, the anti-heroic team has been led by dudes already onscreen for Marvel — meaning maybe a new gig for Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier or Mike Colter’s Netflix powerhouse Luke Cage.

— brian truitt, USA TODAY, "What's after 'Avengers 4'? Our superhero wish list for Marvel's next decade," 15 May 2018
One famous dude included in the bunch: Channing Tatum who shared a shout-out to his recent ex Jenna Dewan in his Instagram stories: Channing Tatum’s Mother’s Day shoutout!

— Marie Claire, "Channing Tatum Wished Jenna Dewan Happy Mother's Day With a Very Sweet Message," 14 May 2018
On one hand, legitimate cannabis capitalists using armored vehicles will no longer have to compete with that shady dude who swears his Honda CRX can outrun any jackers.

— nick stockton, WIRED, "California Rules May Make Weed Shippers Report Themselves to the Feds," 13 May 2018
The promised utopia of infinite streaming, diverse festival bills and more respectful dudes at shows is, to put it mildly, not turning out quite like idealists hoped, especially for newer or independent acts.

— august brown, latimes.com, "On new record 'Burn,' Little Boots tries to see if the future really is female," 9 May 2018
The Revivalists on the Gentilly Stage at 3:40 p.m. - Powered by an odd pedal steel guitar, organ and sax blend, these dudes can really bring it.

— doug maccash, NOLA.com, "7 shows not to miss at Jazz Fest 2018, Saturday (May 5)," 5 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dude.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.