joe
noun
joe
1 American
[joh]
/ dʒoʊ /
noun
Informal.
Joe
2
American
[joh]
/ dʒoʊ /
noun
-
Joes
plural
-
(sometimes lowercase) fellow; guy.
the average Joe who works for a living.
-
Informal. a personification of a typical, often unprepossessing representative of an occupation, personality trait, state of being, etc., that is expressed, sometimes metonymically, as a mock surname.
Joe Lunchbucket working hard at some factory and paying his taxes year after year; political con artists relying on the gullibility of Joe Schmo.
-
a male given name, form of Joseph.
Joe
British
/ dʒəʊ /
noun
-
a man or fellow
-
a GI; soldier
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of joe
First recorded in 1840–50; of uncertain origin
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:
The sloppy joe at Town Hall Delicatessen in South Orange, N.J., isn’t the textbook version you’re probably imagining.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
For a sliver of Northern New Jersey, this is the canonical sloppy joe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Sig’s baby was born 70 years ago this autumn, on Nov. 17, when he first demonstrated how it could alert any ordinary joe schmoe listening to the radio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024
Their coffee remains “Black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love,” a Turkish proverb that also encompasses the die-hard attitude that so many folks have for their cup of joe.
From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2023
“Ears popped, eyes bulged,” Shorty Hunt wrote home breathlessly that night. joe had never flown in an airplane, never seen a city from any higher vantage point than that afforded by his own six-foot-three frame.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Former US president Joe Biden's cancer has metastasized further, according to his son Hunter Biden, who shared the update in a recent interview with the BBC.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
Through their research, Jessie and Joe came across biodiversity organisation Environment Bank which is helping the couple transform the land.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Cook was appointed to the Fed’s board in 2022 by President Joe Biden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
With his “X-Men” casting, Connor would join his fellow “Heartstopper” and “Heartstopper Forever” star Joe Locke in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Frank didn’t think that was very likely, so he and Joe moved on.
From "A Monster of a Mystery (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #5)" by Franklin W. Dixon
And then we look at how regular Joes and Janes could invest in the assets the pros are avoiding using regular, low-cost exchange-traded funds.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026
"They are a bunch of guys that never quit. You can call them the Average Joes but I say they are the Above Average Joes."
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2025
That leaves average Joes at a growing risk of being impersonated online, with little recourse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025
In some of Simpson’s later ads, average Janes and Joes cheered him on as he ran, yelling, “Go, O.J., Go!”
From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
Joes with on the floor of my mom’s hair salon.
From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley
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.
