dandy
Americannoun
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dandies
plural
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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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dandier,
comparative
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dandiest
superlative
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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
Derived Forms
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dandyismnoun
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dandiacaladjective
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dandyishadjective
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dandiacallyadverb
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dandilyadverb
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dandyishlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
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.
See Examples For:
Adrienne cuts her leg on a rock, but Sara tends to it immediately with her handy dandy first aid kit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Divided by competing urges to “join in and stand out,” the dandy exaggerates style to the point of satire and social impertinence.
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
A longnosed dandy with a rubbery grin, he was not grinning now.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Some gentlemen are dandies, but most dandies are not gentlemen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
He donned a royal blue Valentino cloak that paid homage to Andre Leon Talley, former editor-at-large on Vogue whom Anna Wintour called "a dandy among dandies."
From BBC ● May 5, 2025
The collection was inspired by aviation, and there were tailoring traces from the golden era of flight when dandies like Charles Lindbergh made history with solo crossings of the Atlantic.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2023
Warblers are the diminutive dandies of the birding world.
From Washington Post ● May 30, 2022
But the Fashion Minister barrels in, followed by his team of dandies and a wardrobe closet with massive carriagelike wheels.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Then maybe, just maybe, you could put in for the difference between the price of the humdrum machine and the price of the dandier dander remover.
From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2022
It has drawn lumbersexuals of the dandier sort — furniture designers, creative directors, advertising executives and weekend carpenters — who don their finest houndstooth and tweeds for the occasion.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2015
There's not a dandier, better pal anywhere, than what Chum's been to me.
From His Dog by Albert Payson Terhune
“There’s surely not a dandier picture in the world than a girl sitting in the shade sewing—white things,” he said at last, by way of greeting.
From The Law-Breakers by Ridgwell Cullum
“The amazing Master Tool Corporation, a subsidiary of Fly-By-Night Industries, has entrusted who? Me! To show you! The handiest and the dandiest kitchen tool you’ve ever seen.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 11, 2022
“As a young writer, I was the dandiest, cleverest wit and wise guy — a cinch if one possesses the meager gifts,” he writes.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2020
Of course, he looks great: a steel-grey silver fox, these days, but still flash in light parka and kick flares, quite the dandiest man in Blacks, the Soho club where we meet.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 28, 2010
Christopher Isherwood, that permanently promising young man, seemed during the '30s to be the two dandiest literary dactyls since Joyce's Malachai Mulligan.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Pinafore was, in fact, the dandiest thing afloat.
From Operas Every Child Should Know Descriptions of the Text and Music of Some of the Most Famous Masterpieces by Mary Schell Hoke Bacon
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.
