Johnny
noun
a familiar term of address for a man or boy.
Johnny
American
[jon-ee]
/ ˈdʒɒn i /
Or
Johnnie
noun
Johnnies
plural
-
(sometimes lowercase) a familiar term of address for a man or boy.
-
(sometimes lowercase) a short, collarless gown that is fastened in back and is worn by hospital patients, persons being examined in a doctor's office, etc.
-
(lowercase) toilet; bathroom.
-
a male given name, form of John.
johnny
British
/ ˈdʒɒnɪ /
noun
-
informal (often capital) a man or boy; chap
-
a slang word for condom
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Johnny
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:
Mr. Morgan, whose inspiration seems clear enough—Robert De Niro’s Johnny Boy—is terrific as the half-crazy, wildly impulsive Mickey, whose abduction by the Italians occupies much of the early going.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
"There's too many people that hate on each other, steal from each other. They don't love each other," said Los Angeles-based artist Johnny Presley.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
The brothers were born in India and raised in Australia, where Johnny enjoyed a brief career as a semi professional cricket player.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
They used it as spending money on their 17-day honeymoon in Canada which Johnny says they'd saved for "because it's not worth the risk of relying on donations".
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Well, Old Johnny must have been born in Biblical Times, as no one else remembers such water in Snapfinger before.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Any day is a good time for a johnny cake, cornmeal flatbread topped with smoked whitefish and beads of salmon roe.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2017
Between procedures, I sit in a flimsy johnny in the waiting room, leafing through magazines.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2015
In Hollywood, where the dinner is $75 per person, dishes include: grilled whole lobster with saffron rice; rib-eye with Dungeness crab and béarnaise sauce; and johnny cakes with cured Arctic char and trout roe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2014
Try me.” — johnny April 23, 2010 1:37 pm A few weeks ago, in Brooklyn Heights, I was trying to make a right turn but could not.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2010
Friday evening, when the light was failing and work over johnny took the silver pitcher and his own wax model and left the shop.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
The Johnnies were lucky to escape with this win.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
Locals referred to them as Johnnies, a nickname that carries unsavoury connotations.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025
JOHN’S: Coach Rick Pitino has built the kind of buzz around the Johnnies that hasn’t been felt since the high-flying days of Lou Carnesecca.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2025
The Johnnies stayed in the game for much of the way against the reigning national champions, but they couldn’t quite keep up.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
“He said something I couldn’t understand. Hell, Colonel, I can’t even understand them Johnnies, and I’ve been a long time in this army. ”
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
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.
