noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hairdo
Explanation
A hairdo is what a stylist gives you when he cuts and styles your hair. You might go to the salon to get a fancy hairdo before your cousin's wedding. Hairdo is an informal word for "hairstyle." It's the way your hair is cut, dried, and arranged on your head, especially if there's some effort put into it. The way your hair looks when you roll out of bed in the morning isn't a hairdo, and pulling it back into a ponytail or covering it with a bandanna isn't a hairdo either. The elaborate beehive piled five inches high on your grandma's head? Now that's a hairdo.
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:
Never mind that it was said to have been dreamed up by kids at a soda fountain that Short frequented and referred mainly to her upswept hairdo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
On the catwalk and in his own life, Valentino exuded luxury down to the last detail of his immaculate hairdo and caramel tan, often photographed with multiple pug dogs at his side.
From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026
In the series’ final moments, Agatha appears to Billy as a wise-cracking ghost, sporting a silvery hairdo in her afterlife and pondering if this new shade of immortality looks good on her.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2024
The terrific Beecham is saddled with a dismal hairdo and an even more dismal role, her character simply an object of wan yearning for the drowsy John.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2024
I took her shoes off for her, and inside one of her shoes was a kind of worn-down picture of a little white boy with a girl’s hairdo and a smiling dog.
From "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis
The hashtag "hanfu" has been viewed over eleven billion times on Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, and is filled with posts of women in elaborate costumes and hairdos.
From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 2025
A succession of terrible hairdos effectively tones down Ms. Sweeney’s good looks, but she’s still recognizable, and more charmingly eager than she has ever been before.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Everywhere I look, I see shop windows, prams and women's hairdos festooned with blue, white and red Norwegian flags.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
She sports to glossy perfection sensational ‘50s and ‘60s hairdos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2024
That plus the splectacular hairdos on the women, which, man alive, don’t even get me started.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
