Humpty Dumpty

[ huhmp-tee duhmp-tee ]

/ ˈhʌmp ti ˈdʌmp ti /

Save This Word!

noun

an egg-shaped character in a Mother Goose nursery rhyme that fell off a wall and could not be put together again.

(sometimes lowercase) something that has been damaged severely and usually irreparably.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!

Were you ready for a quiz on this topic? Well, here it is! See how well you can differentiate between the uses of "was" vs. "were" in this quiz.

Question 1 of 7

“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of Humpty Dumpty

Rhyming compound based on humpty;see hump, -ed³, -y²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use Humpty Dumpty in a sentence

A word, Humpty Dumpty told Alice, means whatever I want it to mean.
Dear Editors: Ban ‘Redskins’|Michael Tomasky|June 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Near that was another poster marked “read-a-rhyme” and featuring Humpty Dumpty.
The First Funeral for Moore, Oklahoma|Michael Daly|May 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
I was seven the first time my mother mailed one of my stories to a magazine (Humpty Dumpty, now defunct).
Mother’s Day 2013: Gloria Steinem, Erica Jong & Writers Thank Their Moms|Gloria Steinem, Erica Jong, Fay Weldon, Dalma Heyn, Joyce Maynard|May 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The Obama team has been working closely with Riyadh to try to put the Yemeni Humpty-Dumpty back together.
Ibrahim al Asiri: al Qaeda’s ‘Genius’ Bomb Maker|Bruce Riedel|May 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST

As Humpty Dumpty once said, per Lewis Carroll: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”
How Obama Bungled The War In Libya|John Bolton|June 27, 2011|DAILY BEAST
La-doodle-um-La-doodle-oo: La-doodle-um-te-dumpty-loodle-oo!
The Travelling Companions|F. Anstey
"Humpty-Dumpty," cried others; and there was a famous uproar.
Christmas Stories And Legends|Various
Humpty-Dumpty fell downstairs, and yet he married a princess.
Christmas Stories And Legends|Various
The riddle-rhyme of "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall" is, in one form or other, a favorite throughout Europe.
Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales|David Goodger (goodger@python.org)
The word Humpty-Dumpty is allied to hump and to dump, words which express roundness and shortness.
Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes|Lina Eckenstein

British Dictionary definitions for Humpty Dumpty

humpty dumpty

/ (ˈhʌmptɪ ˈdʌmptɪ) /

noun mainly British

a short fat person

a person or thing that once overthrown or broken cannot be restored or mended

Word Origin for humpty dumpty

C18: after the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Humpty Dumpty

“Humpty Dumpty”

A nursery rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.