puppy
Americannoun
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puppies
plural
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a young dog, especially one less than a year old.
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Fox Hunting. a foxhound that has hunted regularly for less than one season.
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pup.
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a presuming, conceited, or empty-headed young man.
noun
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a young dog; pup
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informal a brash or conceited young man; pup
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of puppy
First recorded in 1480–90; earlier popi; see origin at puppet, -y 2
Explanation
A puppy is a baby dog. Unless you're more of a cat person, there's nothing cuter than puppies playing together. When a dog is born, it's a puppy. Puppies, like most mammals, start out very small and quickly grow larger — in fact, some puppies' coats change color as they mature, resulting in a fully grown dog that looks completely different. In the fifteenth century, a puppy was specifically "a woman's small pet dog," from the Middle French poupée, "doll or toy."
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:
She told detectives she left the puppy at a park because it had been annoying her boyfriend by biting on his shoes and belongings, according to department spokesperson Natalie Garcia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
And Ivy was nominated in honour of a nine-month-old Labrador puppy affectionately known as "the absolute destructor".
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
A fluffy white Samoyed puppy was spotted trotting down the staircase of Swift’s private jet last month, catching the attention of paparazzi and appearing at home in its new billionaire lifestyle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The pair hope the third member of their family, a three-month-old puppy Luna, will reappear after going missing during the quake.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
But the puppy stopped just a few steps beyond the clearing.
From "Mystery Map (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #3)" by Franklin W. Dixon
“And then we’re painted as these puppies that just keep getting beat up. I didn’t want to contribute to that.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Quammen said people with puppies or kittens might consider getting insurance, because younger animals are less likely to have pre-existing conditions that might not qualify for coverage.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
This summer, she received 50 applications for the three puppies she had available for sale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
They selected promising puppies and may sometimes have bred dogs with wild canids to reinforce particular characteristics.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
When she had finished the carving of the puppies, she found a stone by the river and began chipping it into an owl.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
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.
