Karen
1 Americannoun
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a group of people of eastern and southern Myanmar (Burma).
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one of these people.
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the language of the Karen, a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan family.
adjective
noun
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Also Karin a first name, form of Katherine.
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Informal: Disparaging.
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a white, usually middle-class woman who is rude, demanding, and aggressive toward other people, particularly customer service workers.
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a person acting in an aggressive, entitled, rude way.
He went full Karen on the poor store manager and threatened to get her fired.
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noun
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a member of a Thai people of Myanmar
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the language of this people, probably related to Thai and belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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:
Neighbor Karen Estes watched over a fence with her Golden retriever, Honey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Relationship expert Karen Doherty has three pieces of advice when it comes to starting the conversation around financial planning.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“This is absolutely devastating,” read a statement from Mayor Karen Bass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Karen Bowden says "there has been talks the hospital is going to close"
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
“I can’t wait to get out of this car,” Karen said after a silent five-mile stretch.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
On one side are so-called trail Karens, who monitor online web cameras and question why the forest service isn’t ticketing “ignorant and selfish” rule breakers who are hiking the mountain anyway.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2024
I've also had experiences with what we are now calling Karens.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2023
“We want to harness the power of Karens for good.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 26, 2022
She was a caricature of a matriarch, but brought complexity and nuance to a type that is usually relegated to sketch comedy, two-dimensional walk-ons or viral videos of monstrous Karens.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2022
The Karens and Shans who settle in the plains expend much more care in ploughing and weeding their crops.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" by Various
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.
