dope

American  

[dohp] / doʊp /

noun

dopes plural

1. any thick liquid or pasty preparation, as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface.

2. an absorbent material used to absorb and hold a liquid, as in the manufacture of dynamite.

3. Aeronautics.

   1. any of various varnishlike products for coating a fabric, as of airplane wings, in order to make it waterproof, stronger, etc.

   2. a similar product used to coat the fabric of a balloon to reduce gas leakage.

4. Slang.

   1. any narcotic or narcoticlike drug taken to induce euphoria or satisfy addiction.

   2. any illicit drug.

   3. a drug, as a steroid, given to an athlete to boost athletic performance.

   4. a narcotic or other drug given surreptitiously to a horse to improve or retard its performance in a race.

5. Slang. information, data, or news.

   What's the latest dope on the strike?

6. Informal. a stupid or unresponsive person.

7. Southern U.S. (chiefly South Atlantic States). a carbonated, flavored, and sweetened drink, especially cola-flavored; soda pop.

8. North Central U.S. (chiefly Ohio). syrup used as a topping for ice cream.

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verb (used with object)

dopes, present (3rd person singular) doped, past participle, past doping present participle

1. Slang.

   1. to affect with dope or drugs (usually followed by up orout ).

      I was so doped up that I couldn't remember a thing.

   2. to add a narcotic or other drug to.

      My brother doped my food as a prank.

   3. to give a drug to (an athlete or horse), so as to affect performance in a race or other competition.

2. to apply or treat with dope.

   In the winter, we doped the fabric of the airplanes in the hangar.

3. Electronics. to add or treat (a pure semiconductor) with a dopant.

verb (used without object)

dopes, present (3rd person singular) doped, past participle, past doping present participle

1. Slang. to take drugs.

   He only dopes on weekends—or so he says.

adjective

1. Slang. great; excellent.

   His band is so dope!

verb phrase

1. dope out to figure out; work out: to dope out a solution to a problem.

   to dope out a plan;

   to dope out a solution to a problem.

dope British  

/ dəʊp /

noun

1. any of a number of preparations made by dissolving cellulose derivatives in a volatile solvent, applied to fabric in order to improve strength, tautness, etc

2. an additive used to improve the properties of something, such as an antiknock compound added to petrol

3. a thick liquid, such as a lubricant, applied to a surface

4. a combustible absorbent material, such as sawdust or wood pulp, used to hold the nitroglycerine in dynamite

5. slang

   1. any illegal drug, usually cannabis

   2. ( as modifier )

      a dope fiend

6. a drug administered to a racehorse or greyhound to affect its performance

7. informal a person considered to be stupid or slow-witted

8. informal news or facts, esp confidential information

9. informal a photographic developing solution

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verb

1. electronics to add impurities to (a semiconductor) in order to produce or modify its properties

2. to apply or add a dopant to

3. to administer a drug to (oneself or another)

4. (intr) to take dope

adjective

1. slang excellent

Usage

What else does dope mean? A dope can be a fool, a slang term for "excellent," or refer to drugs like marijuana. Doping is using performance-enhancing drugs in sports.

Regionalisms

See soda pop.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• undoped
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dopes
  plural

Participles

• doping
  present
• doped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dope
  simple
• dopes
  simple
• have doped
  perfect
• has doped
  perfect
• am doping
  progressive
• are doping
  progressive
• is doping
  progressive
• have been doping
  perfect progressive
• has been doping
  perfect progressive

Past

• doped
  simple
• had doped
  perfect
• was doping
  progressive
• were doping
  progressive
• had been doping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dope
  simple
• will have doped
  perfect
• will be doping
  progressive
• will have been doping
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of dope

First recorded in 1840–50; from Dutch doop (dialect) “sauce,” derivative of dopen “to dip, baptize”; cf. deep ( def. ), dip ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dope dopes doped doping

American swimmer Hunter Armstrong has said he "definitely" doesn't want to dope for the games, adding: "I personally have taken pride in getting as far as I can on natural God-given talent."

From BBC ● May 23, 2026

But to be fully collaborative, I thought it was really dope.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026

This type of silk is made inside a spider's silk gland, where silk proteins are stored as a thick liquid called "silk dope."

From Science Daily ● Feb. 6, 2026

“I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$,” he wrote.

From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2026

Every time I came back to my locker there was a fresh insult scratched into the paint: jerk, dope, or something else with the same number of letters.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman

But you might have no idea if you’ve been listening to hockey-ignorant media dopes like me lather attention on the incoming World Cup and the East Coast-pleasing, media-hub Knicks-Spurs NBA final.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

To me, the celebration phase is the most heinous phase, because we have people who really know better who are acting like dopes, and it's hurting us.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2022

It’s not much of a fight — and Josh isn’t much of a catch — but one of Dunham’s talents is her ability to capture the allure of heartbreakers, scuzzballs and dopes.

From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2022

This is where I’ll put on my tortilla-historian sombrero and say something you might find unbelievable: Tortilla-tossing has a long, strange history in California that’s almost never racist — until dopes make it so.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2021

I partly blame all those dopes that clap their heads off--they'd foul up anybody, if you gave them a chance.

From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger

The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Thursday he was "uncomfortable" with the presence at the 2026 Winter Olympics of the coach of the doped Russian skater Kamila Valieva.

From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026

The chemical composition of the crystals, plucked from rocks in Australia, hint that they formed from magmas doped with freshwater, a team of scientists argues.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 30, 2024

An independent report, instigated by the ITIA, ruled Halep had "intentionally" doped and handed out a four-year ban.

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2024

Hospice can elicit images of “someone doped up and bedridden,” but it is not “just providing enough morphine to make it through the end,” Gurian said.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 17, 2024

I got it doped out how we can even make some money on them rabbits.”

From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

The extremely thin silicon films still allow effective control by the transistor gate, while the high doping levels help reduce parasitic contact resistance.

From Science Daily ● May 30, 2026

However, the US Anti-Doping Agency's Tygart told the BBC as long as an athlete passes doping tests to qualify for the Olympics, there's nothing to stop them from taking part.

From BBC ● May 23, 2026

When news broke that Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has begun an appeal against a four-year doping ban, many football fans immediately asked, what ban?

From BBC ● May 1, 2026

The blistering finishes in London could spur suspicion, since several marathon runners have been disqualified for doping offenses in recent years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026

When they had at last got it down from the doping ground, there was another hitch.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Related Words

• idiot