- an informal word for father
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
dad1
(dad),USA pronunciation n. [Informal.]
dad2 (dad),USA pronunciation interj. [Informal.]
dad3 (dad),USA pronunciation n. [Scot. and North Eng.]
ḍad (däd),USA pronunciation n.
- father.
- probably origin, originally nursery word 1490–1500
dad2 (dad),USA pronunciation interj. [Informal.]
- God (used in combination in mild oaths):dad-blamed; dad-gummed.
- euphemism for God 1670–80
dad3 (dad),USA pronunciation n. [Scot. and North Eng.]
- a solid blow or knock.
- a large slice, lump, or portion.
- probably variant of dab1 1710–20
ḍad (däd),USA pronunciation n.
- Linguisticsthe 15th letter of the Arabic alphabet.
- Arabic
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
dad /dæd/ n
'dad' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
dado
- deadbeat
- Rudd
- big daddy
- crawdad
- dad-blamed
- dad-blasted
- dad-burned
- daddy
- daddy-longlegs
- dad-gummed
- deadbeat dad
- devil
- do-dad
- doodad
- doohickey
- fold
- granddad
- ho-dad
- if
- static
- sugar daddy