dough
Americannoun
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flour or meal combined with water, milk, etc., in a mass for baking into bread, cake, etc.; paste of bread.
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any similar soft, pasty mass.
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Slang. money.
noun
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a thick mixture of flour or meal and water or milk, used for making bread, pastry, etc
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any similar pasty mass
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a slang word for money
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dough
before 1000; Middle English do ( u ) gh, do ( u ) h, dou ( e ), Old English dāg, dāh; cognate with Dutch deeg, Old Norse deig, Gothic daigs, German Teig
Explanation
Dough is a thick mixture of flour and other ingredients that can be kneaded, baked, and eaten. Bread dough needs to rise before you bake it in a hot oven. Many baked goods begin their lives as dough, including bread, rolls, and some cookies. Dough is stiff enough that you can shape it, pull pieces off of it, stretch it and knead it. Informally, dough can also mean "money." If your friend says, "I make so much dough waiting tables!" he probably means money, not cookie dough. The word comes from an Indo-European root that means "smear" or "knead."
Vocabulary lists containing dough
Tax Day Words
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Passover Vocabulary
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A Toast to Bread
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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.
My favorite was her naturally leavened pizza dough, which requires a sourdough starter and a bit of scheduling.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
It’s a good lesson for anyone with dough: Balance your own needs with the needs of others, because you never know when the tide will go out.
From MarketWatch • May 20, 2026
Looking a bit unsure of herself, the Princess of Wales kneaded the dough, applied a filling and cut out the pasta shapes as Ivan Lampredi, a chef, assisted her.
From Barron's • May 14, 2026
There’s the chewiness of the dough, the warm aroma of melted butter, cinnamon and sugar united in holy matrimony.
From Salon • Apr. 28, 2026
Ivan stood beside Anya with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows, wrestling with the dough she had given him.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
