puppy
Americannoun
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puppies
plural
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a young dog, especially one less than a year old.
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Fox Hunting. a foxhound that has hunted regularly for less than one season.
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pup.
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a presuming, conceited, or empty-headed young man.
noun
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a young dog; pup
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informal a brash or conceited young man; pup
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of puppy
First recorded in 1480–90; earlier popi; see origin at puppet, -y 2
Explanation
A puppy is a baby dog. Unless you're more of a cat person, there's nothing cuter than puppies playing together. When a dog is born, it's a puppy. Puppies, like most mammals, start out very small and quickly grow larger — in fact, some puppies' coats change color as they mature, resulting in a fully grown dog that looks completely different. In the fifteenth century, a puppy was specifically "a woman's small pet dog," from the Middle French poupée, "doll or toy."
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:
Paparazzi snapped photos as a fluffy white Samoyed puppy trotted down the airstair, appearing at home in its new billionaire lifestyle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Cosmo went from crouching in corners, too afraid to explore, to leaping onto our high couch with the vigor of a puppy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Released last week, it finds Snow Patrol at their best, with a singalong chorus that bounds over like a puppy and charms you into submission.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Sony is halting sales of its robotic puppy "aibo" in Japan, the company said, eight years after the latest model of its interactive android pet became an instant hit.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
My puppy scuttles behind us into the house.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
Should Swift’s dog inspire a true rush on Samoyed puppies, the breed would not be the first to gain popularity thanks to its celebrity associations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
They selected promising puppies and may sometimes have bred dogs with wild canids to reinforce particular characteristics.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
Thirteen of the 14 dogs seized by the Newport Beach Beach Animal Control were puppies, including two 6-week-old golden retriever puppies that were in critical condition because of untreated parasites.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The Sixers proved to be as dangerous as a warm basket of puppies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
“These are my two. Jack and Jill. They’re not puppies anymore, but they were a big handful when they were.”
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
