dada

[dah-dah]

noun (sometimes initial capital letter)

the style and techniques of a group of artists, writers, etc., of the early 20th century who exploited accidental and incongruous effects in their work and who programmatically challenged established canons of art, thought, morality, etc.

Origin of dada

1915–20; < French: hobby horse, childish reduplication of da giddyap

Related formsda·da·ism, nounda·da·ist, nounda·da·is·tic, adjectiveda·da·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for dada

Contemporary Examples of dada

The other day we got in the car and I had a CD on, and he said, “Dada, is that James Brown?”
Kentucky’s Finest Antihero: Walton Goggins on Justified’s Chameleon Villain
Allen Barra
February 11, 2014
At Performa, Shana Lutker revisits a wild Dada play that featured a nose and some lips.
A Performance Like a Punch in the Face
Blake Gopnik
November 20, 2013
Was one of Dada's fathers really such a mystery or did he show his true self in his art?
Man Ray Revealed
Philip Gefter
November 12, 2009

Historical Examples of dada

Perhaps he will not care to be called Dada, but it is nevertheless true.
Adventures in the Arts
Marsden Hartley
You hear the hum of human bees, they smell the honey of Dada's quatrains.
The Cycle of Spring
Rabindranath Tagore
I am beginning to feel greater respect for Dada's quatrains than before.
The Cycle of Spring
Rabindranath Tagore
Then there is Dada, to whom duty is the essence of life, not joy.
The Cycle of Spring
Rabindranath Tagore
If he didn't, he would never have pulled Dada outside his den.
The Cycle of Spring
Rabindranath Tagore

British Dictionary definitions for dada

Dada

Dadaism (ˈdɑːdɑːˌɪzəm)

noun

a nihilistic artistic movement of the early 20th century in W Europe and the US, founded on principles of irrationality, incongruity, and irreverence towards accepted aesthetic criteria

Derived FormsDadaist, noun, adjectiveDadaistic, adjectiveDadaistically, adverb

Word Origin for Dada

C20: from French, from a children's word for hobbyhorse, the name being arbitrarily chosen

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dada

1920, from French dada "hobbyhorse," child's nonsense word, selected 1916 by Romanian poet Tristan Tzara (1896-1963), leader of the movement, for its resemblance to meaningless babble.

Freedom: DADA DADA DADA, the howl of clashing colors, the intertwining of all contradictions, grotesqueries, trivialities: LIFE. [T. Tzara, "Dada Manifesto," 1918]

Related: Dadaist; Dadaism.