noun
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a person or thing that proves ineffectual or a failure
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a shell, etc, that fails to explode
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old-fashioned (plural) clothes or other personal belongings
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dud
1815–25; special use of dud, singular of duds
Explanation
Something that doesn't work the way it's supposed to is a dud. A bomb or firework that doesn't explode is one kind of dud. A bad blind date is another kind. When a bomb fails to explode, it's a dud. A long-planned surprise party that fails miserably when the guest of honor doesn't show up is another kind of dud. You can also refer to a person as a dud, if they're an utter failure or a complete flop: "The lead actor was a total dud. He couldn't really sing or dance and he seemed nervous." In the 1800s, a dud was "a person in ragged clothing," from dudde, "cloak or mantle."
Vocabulary lists containing dud
Back-Words: Palindromes
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Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 3
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Scrabble: Palindrome Words
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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.
Appeared in the June 30, 2026, print edition as 'Run of Dud Harvests Spurs Search for the Perfect Spud'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 23, 2026
"Every moment when we were there, I thought 'I had to get him out'," she told Russian documentary maker Yuri Dud.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2024
Mr. Yashin acknowledged as much in the YouTube interview posted shortly before his arrest, with the Russian journalist Yuri Dud.
From New York Times • Jul. 27, 2022
The group delayed the move until Dud Lastrapes took office, then got a permanent court order forbidding any move unless it was needed for road work or the land was sold, The Advertiser has reported.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 17, 2021
Note, too, his use of the plain style—establishing an ethos connection with Dud.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Definitions 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.
