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• cad
  cad

  noun

  an ill-bred man, especially one who behaves in a dishonorable or irresponsible way toward women.
• CAD
  CAD

  noun

  computer-aided design.

cad

¹ American  

[kad] / kæd /

noun

• cads
  plural

1. an ill-bred man, especially one who behaves in a dishonorable or irresponsible way toward women.

   Synonyms:

   heel, rogue, rascal, rotter, bounder

2. British Archaic.

   1. a local town boy or youth, as contrasted with a university or public school student.

   2. a servant at a university or public school.

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CAD ² American  

[kad] / kæd /

noun

1. computer-aided design.

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CAD ¹ British  

acronym

1. computer-aided design

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cad ² British  

/ kæd /

noun

1. informal a man who does not behave in a gentlemanly manner towards others

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• caddish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cads
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cad

First recorded in 1780–90; short for caddie (in the sense “a person who runs errands and does odd jobs”)

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Explanation

A cad is a man who is not gentlemanly or honorable, especially toward a woman. He asked the waitress for her phone number and left you with the check? That cad! Also known as a rake, a scoundrel, a rascal, or a heel, a cad is not a guy you want to be around too long. The word cad came from the word cadet, meaning a "servant." Later cad came to be a derogatory term used by students at British universities, referring to boys from local towns. Don’t confuse the word cad with the acronym CAD, meaning "computer-aided design."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cad CAD cads

That Belmondo morphs from appealing photojournalist to unlikable sexual cad while the picture’s ostensible star—Claude Brasseur as an inadvertent cop killer—disappears for long stretches does the picture no favors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026

Navy cad, and Cio-Cio-San, his teenage bride, a.k.a.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

The underdog here is Mark Ruffalo, whose comic turn as the cad Duncan Wedderburn in "Poor Things."

From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2024

In the past, words or phrases deemed to have stepped over the line include "impertinent dog", "cad", "blethering", "guttersnipe" and "git".

From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2023

"I think you’re a cad," said the King.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

His and Shen’s combined net income during their 10-year wealth-building period ranged from CAD $65,500 to CAD $168,680.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

By month’s end, CAD Management estimates Bublé will be 9% ahead of Carey in terms of streams.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 24, 2025

Earlier research had reported that certain species within the family Lachnospiraceae decrease in people with CAD.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 12, 2025

He appealed for anyone with video footage from the area to get in touch with the police on 101 quoting CAD 4647/24Aug.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2025

Now the area of the triangle CAD, swept out by the radius vector in unit time, is ½bh; h being the perpendicular height of the triangle from the base AC.

From Pioneers of Science by Sir Oliver Lodge

You excel at playing cads — Withnail, Jack Hock and now J.M.

From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2023

There may be nothing princely about Bitton’s portrayal, but he’s so much more lovable than the posh cads of swankier Benedicks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2023

The character was probably based on acting colleague - and fellow portrayer of cads - Terry-Thomas.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2022

He refused to play cowards or cads and took on characters, especially in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” of almost divine goodness.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2022

The less you sneer at cads after this, the better.—I was so long making up my mind to it that the poor girl had to speak again.

From A Pessimist In Theory and Practice by Frederic Mayer Bird

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