nickname
a name added to or substituted for the proper name of a person, place, etc., as in affection, ridicule, or familiarity: He has always loathed his nickname of “Whizzer.”
a familiar form of a proper name, as Jim for James and Peg for Margaret.
to give a nickname to (a person, town, etc.); call by a nickname.
Archaic. to call by an incorrect or improper name; misname.
Origin of nickname
1Other words from nickname
- nicknamer, noun
- un·nick·named, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use nickname in a sentence
Family crests and nicknames are stitched into headrests, colors are specified for seat stitching, veneers are chosen for the dash.
Previous Beltrán Leyva henchmen had nicknames like El Grande or La Barbie and were stone-faced killers.
He is also known as El H, but of all his nicknames El Elegante is the most salient.
The final hurdle was a longtime city policy against nicknames in street signs.
How Brooklyn’s First Ice Cream Girl Fought City Hall–and Won | Michael Daly | October 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd references to Trogdor the Burninator, are everywhere from sports nicknames to Buffy the Vampire slayer comics.
Homestar Runner, Trogdor the Burninator, and the Birth of the Internet | Rich Goldstein | April 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Nicknames among this class of poor whites in the South seem singularly like those in vogue in New England.
Ramona | Helen Hunt JacksonIn these rages he called everybody who would bear it pigs, dogs, and other more unsavory nicknames.
Overland | John William De ForestMany surnames have come down from nicknames given to people because of their good or bad qualities.
Stories That Words Tell Us | Elizabeth O'Neill"They rather like nicknames in this part of the world," he answered.
The Opened Shutters | Clara Louise BurnhamThe ears are particularly my own and have a defiant way of leaving the head that has earned a score of insulting nicknames.
The Wasted Generation | Owen Johnson
British Dictionary definitions for nickname
/ (ˈnɪkˌneɪm) /
a familiar, pet, or derisory name given to a person, animal, or place: his nickname was Lefty because he was left-handed
a shortened or familiar form of a person's name: Joe is a nickname for Joseph
(tr) to call by a nickname; give a nickname to
Origin of nickname
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse