dandy
Americannoun
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a man who is excessively concerned about his clothes and appearance; a fop.
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Informal. something or someone of exceptional or first-rate quality.
Your reply was a dandy.
adjective
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characteristic of a dandy; foppish.
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Informal. fine; excellent; first-rate.
a dandy vacation spot.
noun
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a man greatly concerned with smartness of dress; beau
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a yawl or ketch
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dandy
First recorded in 1770–80; origin uncertain
Explanation
A man who is very concerned with how he looks can be called a dandy. The term is rather old-fashioned — it was commonly used to refer to such men in the 1800s, like the famous dandy Beau Brummell. As an adjective, dandy means excellent. If you think your new car is dandy, you're excited to own such a great car. In modern use, dandy is often used sarcastically, with just a small change in wording or emphasis: "My new car is just dandy. It's broken down twice today already!" The word dandy is also frequently used in the phrase "fine and dandy".
Vocabulary lists containing dandy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Words from the 4th of July Songbook
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Murder on the Orient Express
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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.
All seemed just dandy until both eagles left their nest unattended, and ravens swooped in.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026
His 18th-century forerunners, the London macaroni and the Paris incroyable, had one foot in the court and the other in the city street, but the dandy, posh or not, lived in a middle-class, democratic society.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026
Yet he acquired a reputation as a dandy, a clever humorist and an intellectual showman, distinctly apolitical and seemingly a man of no convictions.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2025
The dandy, it turns out, is a local teenage fan of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot who just happened to be at a real crime scene.
From BBC • Nov. 9, 2025
He had a bevy of female admirers — but also a coterie of critics, who considered him a dandy and a playboy.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
