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darling

noun · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

Often used as an affectionate term of address: someone who is very dear to one.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dahrling

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdɑɹlɪŋ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.

  2. The favourite child in a family.

  3. A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.

  4. An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname from darling.

  5. A major river of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, named for Governor Ralph Darling.

  6. An Australian river; tributary of the Murray River

adjective

  1. Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.

verb

  1. transitiveinformal

    To call (someone) "darling" (noun noun, sense 1).

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.

Used this way, darling is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Kind and considerate
Usage feel
Warm and expressive

Nearby words

  • dearie , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
  • ducky , rarer, so it draws attention
  • deary , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use darling

  • “My friend's new puppy is an absolute darling and so playful.”

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: often used as an affectionate term of address

deardearieInformalduckyRare

adjective

Sense: very dear

petfavoritefavouriteArchaic

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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.