babe
Americannoun
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a baby or child.
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an innocent or inexperienced person.
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Southern U.S. Usually Babe (used, often before the surname, as a familiar name for a boy or man, especially the youngest of a family.)
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Slang.
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Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. a girl or woman, especially an attractive one.
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an attractive young man.
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Sometimes Babe an affectionate or familiar term of address (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., especially by a male to a female).
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idioms
noun
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a baby
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informal a naive, gullible, or unsuspecting person (often in the phrase a babe in arms )
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informal a young woman or man perceived as being sexually attractive
Etymology
Origin of babe
First recorded in 1150–1200; 1915–20 babe for def. 4; Middle English; early Middle English baban, probably nursery word in 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.
The crowd sings along to pulse-thumping anthems from Britney Spears, Charli XCX and Bad Bunny, with a Paramore sing-along thrown in for everyone’s inner emo babe.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 18, 2026
As Swift and Carpenter say, “You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe, and you’re never gonna wanna.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025
Dom: “I knocked on every agent’s door every season. I got it wrong the first season by knocking on doors a week before, having people tell me: ‘No babe, we organised this months ago.’
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2024
Mary Chater, who fell for a fraudster on Facebook who claimed to be a UN doctor, said: "Being called babe, baby, sweetheart, lured me right in."
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2024
“This is no usual babe, but a prince! He will be a bringer of peace!”
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
