date
1 Americannoun
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a particular month, day, and year at which some event happened or will happen.
July 4, 1776 was the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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the day of the month.
Is today's date the 7th or the 8th?
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an inscription on a writing, coin, etc., that shows the time, or time and place, of writing, casting, delivery, etc..
a letter bearing the date January 16.
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the time or period to which any event or thing belongs; period in general.
Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date.
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the time during which anything lasts; duration.
The pity is that childhood has so short a date.
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an appointment for a particular time.
They have a date with their accountant at ten o'clock.
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a social appointment or engagement arranged beforehand with another person, especially when a romantic relationship exists or may develop.
to go out on a Saturday night date.
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a person with whom one has such a social appointment or engagement.
Can I bring a date to the party?
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an engagement for an entertainer to perform.
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dates, the birth and death dates, usually in years, of a person.
Dante's dates are 1265 to 1321.
verb (used without object)
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dates,
present (3rd person singular)
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dated,
past participle, past
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dating
present participle
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to have or bear a date.
The letter dates from 1873.
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to belong to a particular period; have its origin.
That dress dates from the 19th century. The architecture dates as far back as 1830.
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to reckon from some point in time.
The custom dates from the days when women wore longer skirts.
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to go out socially on dates.
She dated a lot during high school.
verb (used with object)
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dates,
present (3rd person singular)
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dated,
past participle, past
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dating
present participle
-
to mark or furnish with a date.
Please date the check as of today.
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to ascertain or fix the period or point in time of; assign a period or point in time to.
The archaeologist dated the ruins as belonging to the early Minoan period.
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to show the age of; show to be old-fashioned.
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to make a date with; go out on dates with.
He's been dating his best friend's sister.
idioms
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to date, up to the present time; until now.
This is his best book to date.
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up to date. see up-to-date.
noun
noun
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a specified day of the month
today's date is October 27
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the particular day or year of an event
the date of the Norman Conquest was 1066
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(plural) the years of a person's birth and death or of the beginning and end of an event or period
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an inscription on a coin, letter, etc, stating when it was made or written
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an appointment for a particular time, esp with a person to whom one is sexually or romantically attached
she has a dinner date
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the person with whom the appointment is made
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the present moment; now (esp in the phrases to date, up to date )
verb
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(tr) to mark (a letter, coin, etc) with the day, month, or year
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(tr) to assign a date of occurrence or creation to
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(intr; foll by from or back to) to have originated (at a specified time)
his decline dates from last summer
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(tr) to reveal the age of
that dress dates her
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to make or become old-fashioned
some good films hardly date at all
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informal
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to be a boyfriend or girlfriend of (someone of the opposite sex)
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to accompany (a member of the opposite sex) on a date
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noun
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the fruit of the date palm, having sweet edible flesh and a single large woody seed
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short for date palm
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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datablenessnoun
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dateablenessnoun
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daternoun
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datableadjective
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dateableadjective
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datelessadjective
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undatableadjective
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undateableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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datesimple
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datessimple
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have datedperfect
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has datedperfect
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am datingprogressive
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are datingprogressive
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is datingprogressive
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have been datingperfect progressive
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has been datingperfect progressive
Past
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datedsimple
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had datedperfect
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was datingprogressive
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were datingprogressive
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had been datingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of date1
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English noun from Middle French, from Late Latin data, noun use of data (feminine of datus, past participle of dare “to give”), from the phrase data (Romae) “written, given (at Rome)”; Middle English verb daten “to sign or date a document,” derivative of the noun
Origin of date2
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French dade, date, from Medieval Latin datil(l)us, from Latin dactylus, from Greek dáktylos, from a Semitic language (and unrelated to Greek dáktylos “finger; dactyl )
Explanation
A date is a particular day of the month, and to date is to go out with someone. You might have the date of your first date with a special someone marked on your calendar. Awwwwwwww. Date comes from the Latin datus, "given," because in ancient Rome when people wrote letters or decrees, they'd say, "given ("data") May 1st" (for example). Date can mean a day of each year, like May 1st, or one historical day, like May 1st, 1873. You make a date to meet someone for dinner. You date your letter. If you make many appointments with one special lady, you're dating her. A date is also a fruit, from the date palm.
Vocabulary lists containing date
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:
After waiting 30 days from the date of your mother’s death, you can complete and notarize this affidavit.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 27, 2026
If they never went to prison, the five years is calculated from the date of sentencing.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
The fossils of the Northern Territory, the oldest of which date back to 1.75 billion years ago, are the oldest currently known eukaryote fossils globally.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026
The company expects to make additional notifications, but most of the activity it has reviewed to date “involved routine research tasks, such as accessing public web content,” OpenAI said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
The date on the file was from twelve years before.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
So every week when we publish the list of potential post-earnings moves, they are stocks that have this sawtooth pattern surrounding past earnings dates.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Most banks hold construction loans they make until their due dates and don’t adjust their valuations based on market fluctuations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Oasis have announced more dates for the second leg of their reunion tour in 2027.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
"I've been putting together a spreadsheet of all those who died as soon as I find out about it, with their names and dates of birth – I've got around 1,200 people now," she says.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
I hear their happy chatter as they quiz each other on historical facts and dates.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
We’d dated after college; I’d always felt guilty I’d ended the relationship.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
And, with the museum’s dim lighting, dated technology and underutilized areas, it can feel at times as if one is wandering in a past-its-prime shopping mall or in the forgotten corner of an airport terminal.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026
Archaeological remains are often dated using radiocarbon techniques that can produce time windows spanning many decades or even more than a century.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
“We dated with marriage in mind,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
He usually dated underclassmen with Alanis Morissette-style hair and an affinity for grunge attire.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
DOM 08006 contains mineral grains from the earliest stages of solar system formation, possibly dating to before the sun had fully formed.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
I dipped my toe back into dating after my divorce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
I’m a 21-year-old navigating dating after a meaningful past relationship and I’m struggling.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
It's the latest in a series of experimental Nasa aircraft dating back to 1947 and the first plane to break the sound barrier, the Bell X-1.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
“You are the most handsome, intelligent hamster in the world! And I am the luckiest man in the world! Because I am dating the most beautiful woman in the world!”
From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney
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.
