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Definition of nickname
1 : a usually descriptive name given instead of or in addition to the one belonging to a person, place, or thing
2 : a familiar form of a proper name (as of a person or a city)
From the M-W Editors
Examples of nickname in a Sentence
His mother gave him the nickname “Winky” when he was a baby.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson got his nickname from the way he handled a basketball.
Recent Examples of nickname from the Web
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The fish, members of the grunt family, earned the nickname from the scarlet skin inside their mouths.
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Taco Charlton spent most of his life battling and explaining his nickname.
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Pollard was also prone to giving them nicknames of her own such as Token, Whiteboy — my personal favorite — Rico, and Punk, who is now more commonly known as David Otunga, the fiancee of Jennifer Hudson.
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The virtual tour preserves all aspects of the exhibition, including videos and a nickname generator.
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Stores were given a simplified nickname based on their parent chain, if any, to facilitate database searches.
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Slaughter also invited Diana Contreras, who goes by the nickname DidiRok, to contribute.
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Trammell never had a cool nickname; the Snake came to Alabama from Foley with his, and Broadway Joe was born when Namath got to the New York Jets.
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Baram also remembered another nickname for Millstein, given to him in childhood during the Depression.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nickname'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of nickname
Middle English nekename additional name, alteration (resulting from misdivision of an ekename) of ekename, from eke eke, also + name name
nickname
Definition of nickname
nicknamer
nounRecent Examples of nickname from the Web
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He was nicknamed after Yogi Bear's sidekick Boo Boo.
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But Spithill, who is not nicknamed Pitbull for nothing, kept scrapping and tacking and talking a good game, and he and his crewmates were finally rewarded with their first victory in this otherwise lopsided America’s Cup match.
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By comparison, the H-4 flying boat — nicknamed Spruce Goose and built by Howard Hughes in the 1940s — has a 320-foot (97.5-meter) wingspan and is just under 219 feet (67 meters) long.
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By comparison, the H-4 flying boat — nicknamed Spruce Goose and built by Howard Hughes in the 1940s — has a 320-foot (97.5-meter) wingspan and is just under 219 feet (67 meters) long.
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The system was called the Capital City Street Railway and nicknamed Lightning Route.
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The population of Clemson, S.C., is just less than 14,000, which almost 10,000 fewer than Starkville, home of Mississippi State and jokingly nicknamed Starkvegas.
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JPMorgan was fined more than $1 billion by U.S. and U.K. regulators in 2013 after trader Bruno Iksil, nicknamed the London Whale for his large bets, incurred $6.2 billion in losses.
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The regularity of the thefts prompted Brungardt to nickname the thieves.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nickname'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of nickname
1536
NICKNAME Defined for English Language Learners
nickname
playDefinition of nickname for English Language Learners
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: a name (such as “Moose” or “Lady Bird”) that is different from your real name but is what your family, friends, etc., call you when they are talking to you or about you
nickname
Definition of nickname for English Language Learners
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: to give (someone) a name that is not that person's real name : to give a nickname to (someone)
NICKNAME Defined for Kids
Definition of nickname for Students
1 : a usually descriptive name used in addition to a person's given name My brother had the nickname “Nosy.”
2 : a familiar form of a proper name “Bill” and “Willie” are nicknames for “William.”
History for nickname
In the Middle Ages there was an English word ekename that meant “an extra name.” It was made of a word eke that meant “extra part” added to the word name. It started with a vowel, so an was used with this word instead of a. When an ekename was said fast, it sounded a bit like a nekename. As a result, some people thought the word started with n and began to pronounce it nekename. They did not know they were taking n away from an, adding it to ekename, and so making a new word. From this new word came the word nickname that we use now.
Definition of nickname for Students
nicknamed
;nicknaming
: to give a usually descriptive name to that is additional to a given name
Learn More about nickname
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See words that rhyme with nickname Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for nickname Spanish Central: Translation of nickname Nglish: Translation of nickname for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of nickname for Arabic speakers
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