Dear John
Americannoun
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a letter from a woman informing her boyfriend or fiancé that she is ending their relationship or informing her husband that she wants a divorce.
Nothing is worse for a soldier's morale than getting a Dear John.
-
any letter terminating a relationship.
Etymology
Origin of Dear John
First recorded in 1940–45
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.
Supporters of the kakariki karaka - a green parakeet - put up billboards reading: "Dear John, don't disrupt the pecking order".
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2023
"Dear John" is like a handwritten personal note to Mayer.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2023
Later that evening, he finally unearthed the bank’s Dear John letter: “Financial institutions have an obligation to know our customers and monitor transactions,” it said.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2023
Did anybody else find it terribly coincidental that Urban Meyer got a Dear John letter from the Jaguars on college football’s National Letter of Intent Day?
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
Dear John, listen, we both know it’s not working.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
