doll
noun
a small figure representing a baby or other human being, especially for use as a child's toy.
doll
1 American
[dol]
/ dɒl /
noun
-
dolls
plural
-
a small figure representing a baby or other human being, especially for use as a child's toy.
-
a small figure representing a nonhuman character, for use as a toy.
cartoon character dolls.
-
Slang.
-
a pretty but expressionless or unintelligent woman.
-
a girl or woman, especially one who is considered attractive.
-
a boy or man who is considered attractive.
-
(sometimes initial capital letter) an affectionate or familiar term of address, as to a child or romantic partner (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., especially by a male to a female).
-
-
Informal. a generous or helpful person.
You're a doll for lending me your car.
-
Slang. a barbiturate in pill form.
verb phrase
Doll
2
American
[dol]
/ dɒl /
noun
doll
British
/ dɒl /
noun
-
a small model or dummy of a human being, used as a toy
-
slang a pretty girl or woman of little intelligence: sometimes used as a term of address
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of doll
First recorded in 1550–60; generic use of Doll
Explanation
A doll is a toy that looks like a small person, often a baby. When kids play with dolls, they might dress them up, push them in toy strollers, and have pretend tea parties with them. Some dolls are the size of real babies and are played with in a way that's a kind of practice parenting — like pretending to feed and bathe a doll. Other dolls are much smaller and represent people of varying ages, like a family of dolls that are played with in a doll house, sitting at little tables and sleeping in tiny beds. The word doll is also an old-fashioned, slightly offensive term for a woman, especially one who's young and pretty.
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.
See Examples For:
In the old “Uncle Remus” stories the “tar baby” was a decoy, a doll made from a mixture of tar and turpentine by the crafty Br’er Fox to catch the elusive Br’er Rabbit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
He answers to the nickname "Bougie" -- reportedly given him by his Egyptian-born mother, who mixed the French word for doll "poupee" with its Hebrew equivalent "buba".
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
Ms. FitzSimons writes that, as a child, she cherished her own American Girl doll and enjoyed a “last gasp of unselfconscious girlhood” via the narrative that was woven around it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
The 40-inch doll made by Carousel for Reubens’ JCPenney-exclusive line in the late 1980s is one of the rarest Pee-wee Herman collectibles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
The little girl of about five clutches tight to the doll she has tucked under her arm, while her toddler-sized brother tries to wrestle it away from her.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
If Fed officials “really want to get inflation down to two, they may have to get restrictive, which the stock market wouldn’t like,” said Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The “high-risk” bull market in stocks needs Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh on its side, according to Bob Doll, CEO at Crossmark Global Investments.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
His abstract painting "Doll Boy" -- a reference to his crush on the pop singer Cliff Richard -- caught the eye of the art dealer John Kasmin, who bought it for £40.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
As well as the new single and tour, both Pussycat Dolls albums - PCD and Doll Domination - will be reissued with previously unreleased tracks.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
With tactful good grace, Betty set Doll to scrubbing new potatoes, and Polly went outside with a knife.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
As Ms. FitzSimons writes, “the dolls weren’t based on the books; the books weren’t based on the dolls.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
"There are days when I can't sleep," Navarro told AFP at his flat, where a battered pram containing two well-worn dolls stood by the entrance.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
"It's sort of like Russian nesting dolls because you have grog within grog within grog. You can trace this back several generations of pots," Wallis said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
The auction features Pee-wee’s iconic gray suit and other costumes, red Schwinn bicycles, dolls, puppets, claymation figures, scripts and more.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Groups of people stagger away from the waterfront holding armfuls of clothing, pushing prams piled with wireless sets, clocks, books, dolls.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
