dad
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Used to address one's father.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dadIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdæd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
informal
A father, a male parent.
Used to address one's father; often capitalized.
A blow; act of striking something.
The letter ض in the Arabic script.
A lump or piece.
informal
An informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
verb
To be a father to; to parent.
To act like a dad.
transitive
To throw against something; to dash.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A father, a male parent.
Used this way, dad is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home and everyday conversation contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dad
- “My dad taught me how to fish when I was a little kid.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.