muggle
Americannoun
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a nonmagical person in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe.
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a person who is not familiar with the Harry Potter universe.
He’s a muggle—he hasn’t read any of the books.
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a person who is not familiar with or knowledgeable about a specific subject (often used attributively).
I’m a true fan of K-pop, and my brother is just a muggle.
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of muggle
First recorded in 1995–2000; from the Harry Potter series of novels by J.K. Rowling ( def. )
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:
Most time-wasting but fun is watching the cast decide if some strange words are from the muggle or magical universes.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 17, 2022
For me, the best stories are those where real and imaginary places are constantly overlapping, colliding perhaps, the fantasy and the everyday, both magic and muggle.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 22, 2018
More than 800 players from as far afield as Iceland and Hong Kong took part in the tournament - the largest yet staged in the muggle universe.
From Reuters ● Jul. 2, 2018
“What do the characters of Harry Potter wear under their robes? I figure they have to wear something, so do they wear muggle clothing or do they have a dress code?”
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2016
Visitors of all genders, ages, shapes and colors milled about, almost none in street clothes or — as they have been known here since the advent of the Harry Potter novels — muggle clothes.
From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2015
The fictional game has been a real-life sensation among muggles for more than a decade and is played as a fast-paced, mixed-gender contact sport across the world.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2022
What a depressing descent it’s been for the “Fantastic Beasts” movies, the “Harry Potter” prequel franchise intended to expand the magical world of witches, wizards and muggles spun to life by J.K.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2022
New offerings, along with a number of holdovers, were able to draw muggles and crack the top five as comedy “Instant Family” and heist drama “Widows” each opened relatively on par with expectations.
From Reuters ● Nov. 18, 2018
This prequel to the Harry Potter series, starring Eddie Redmayne as a “magizoologist” in 1920s New York, has muggles everywhere counting the days ’til next November.
From Time ● Dec. 21, 2015
There will also be butterbeer on tap and a ceremony to sort fans into Hogwarts houses — not to mention the company of like-minded muggles.
From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2015
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.
