dashing
Americanadjective
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energetic and spirited; lively.
a dashing hero.
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elegant and gallant in appearance and manner.
a dashing young cavalry officer.
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showy; stylish.
adjective
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spirited; lively
a dashing young man
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stylish; showy
a dashing hat
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dashing
Explanation
Someone who's dashing is stylish, with a certain bold, attractive spirit. Your dashing uncle might charm and impress your friends with his stories of travels around the world and his fashionable outfits. Characters in old books are frequently dashing — adventurous and gallant, like a dashing hero on a white horse or a dashing pirate seeking his fortune at sea. The adjective dashing is almost always used to describe men, and for that reason it's a bit old-fashioned. In the 18th and 19th centuries "to cut a dash" meant "to act brilliantly" or "to give a showy appearance," and dashing came from this meaning.
Vocabulary lists containing dashing
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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Almost American Girl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I love it,” he said, dashing into class.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Speaking of parachuting and the Queen, add the Olympic Stadium to 007 venues, where in the summer of 2012 stuntpeople dressed as the monarch and the dashing womaniser made a dramatic entrance.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
It follows 19-year-old Feyre Archeron and her sisters as they are carried out of the human realm and into Prythian, a land ruled by dashing faeries.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Add orange-rimmed eyes with jet-black pupils set against white cheeks, a dashing black under-eye line and a radiant round orange bill hinge, and the puffin looks like something invented by a talented circus makeup artist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
“Ah, everybody’s dashing, sophisticated, and very brave on TV,” said Chico.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
