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:
Thankfully, standing inside the climate-controlled walls of the Line hotel’s lobby and behind a cup of joe from its Alfred Coffee, there’s a smidgen of comfort.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Our food columnist Adam Chandler crossed the Hudson to sample one of your top recommendations: the New Jersey sloppy joe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Quality brew, especially when used with their bean grinder, for a fresh cup of joe that hits exactly how you need it without the fussing.
From Salon ● Nov. 20, 2025
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
“Did you get sloppy joe on your feet?”
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
It caught some - including fellow pundit Joe Hart - by surprise.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
“I told them yes, but I’ll be making them for Laura, Joe and Angie instead. I’m equal parts grateful and excited for this opportunity.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
One of my great shortcomings is I’m not good at writing political music, which I wish I was because I love Neil Young and Joe Strummer and Chuck D and Billie Holiday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
A member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, she had served as the secretary of the interior under former president Joe Biden, the first Native American to serve as a US cabinet secretary.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
“Neither of them looks much like the Morpho type,” Joe whispered to Frank.
From "A Monster of a Mystery (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #5)" by Franklin W. Dixon
The member of the Groundlings main company has made guest appearances throughout the year with the Joes, sometimes catching themselves watching in admiration and forgetting they were in the show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
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
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
“The rest, eh, Pip?” said Joe, looking at it with a slow, searching eye, “One, two, three. Why, here’s three Js, and three Os, and three J-O, Joes in it, Pip!”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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