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dummy

noun · verb · adverb

Simple meaning

A figure of a person or animal used by a ventriloquist.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

duhmee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdʌmi

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. A figure of a person or animal used by a ventriloquist; a puppet.

  2. A person who does not talk

  3. A figure representing the human form

  4. Something constructed with the size and form of a human, to be used in place of a person.

  5. A deliberately nonfunctional device or tool used in place of a functional one.

  6. A person who is the mere tool of another; a man of straw.

verb

  1. Make a dummy of

    “Dummy up the books that are to be published.”

  2. To make a mock-up or prototype version of something, without some or all off its intended functionality.

adverb

  1. usslang

    Extremely.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A figure of a person or animal used by a ventriloquist; a puppet.

Used this way, dummy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

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

More ways to use dummy

  • “Dummy up the books that are to be published.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

dummy variabledummy loadtwo dummydummy argumentusing dummythree dummydummy activity

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • dummy upverbCompound term

    Make a dummy of.

  • dummy whistnounCompound term

    A form of whist with three players.

  • baby's dummynounCompound term

    Device used for an infant to suck or bite on.

  • ventriloquist's dummynounCompound term

    A wooden dummy into which a ventriloquist projects the voice.

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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.