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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dope.

Any viscous liquid or paste, such as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun[dəʊp]Received-Pronunciation[doʊp]US
  1. Any viscous liquid or paste, such as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface.

    uncountable
  2. An absorbent material used to hold a liquid.

    uncountable
  3. Any varnish used to coat a part, such as an airplane wing or a hot-air balloon in order to waterproof, strengthen, etc.

    uncountable
  4. Any of various recreational substances

    slang · uncountable
  5. Any of various recreational substances: An opiate, now particularly heroin.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  6. Any of various recreational substances: Marijuana.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  7. Information, usually from an inside source, originally in horse racing and other sports.

    slang · uncountable
    What's the latest dope on the stock market?
  8. Ballistic data on previously fired rounds, used to calculate the required hold over a target.

    uncountable
  9. A stupid person.

    countable · derogatory · slang
  10. Dessert topping.

    US · countable · uncountable
  11. A soft drink.

    Appalachia · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Dutch doop (“thick dipping sauce”), from Dutch dopen (“to dip”), from Middle Dutch dopen, from Old Dutch *dōpen, from Frankish *daupijan, from Proto-Germanic *daupijaną. “Doop” in the sense “narcotic drug” ultimately refers to viscous opium juice, the drug of choice of the ancient Greeks; “insider information” perhaps from knowing which horse had been doped in a race. Sense of "stupid person" perhaps following from the drug sense (i.e. relating to those intoxicated on opium), compare dope up. Related to English dip and German taufen. Unrelated to dopamine.

verb[dəʊp]Received-Pronunciation[doʊp]US
  1. To affect with drugs.

    slang · transitive
  2. To treat with dope (lubricant, etc.).

    transitive
  3. To add a dopant such as arsenic to (a pure semiconductor such as silicon).

    transitive
  4. To use drugs; especially, to use prohibited performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sporting competitions.

    intransitive
  5. To judge or guess; to predict the result of.

    dated · slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Dutch doop (“thick dipping sauce”), from Dutch dopen (“to dip”), from Middle Dutch dopen, from Old Dutch *dōpen, from Frankish *daupijan, from Proto-Germanic *daupijaną. “Doop” in the sense “narcotic drug” ultimately refers to viscous opium juice, the drug of choice of the ancient Greeks; “insider information” perhaps from knowing which horse had been doped in a race. Sense of "stupid person" perhaps following from the drug sense (i.e. relating to those intoxicated on opium), compare dope up. Related to English dip and German taufen. Unrelated to dopamine.

adj[dəʊp]Received-Pronunciation[doʊp]US
  1. Amazing; cool.

    slang
    That party was dope!
Where this word comes from

From Dutch doop (“thick dipping sauce”), from Dutch dopen (“to dip”), from Middle Dutch dopen, from Old Dutch *dōpen, from Frankish *daupijan, from Proto-Germanic *daupijaną. “Doop” in the sense “narcotic drug” ultimately refers to viscous opium juice, the drug of choice of the ancient Greeks; “insider information” perhaps from knowing which horse had been doped in a race. Sense of "stupid person" perhaps following from the drug sense (i.e. relating to those intoxicated on opium), compare dope up. Related to English dip and German taufen. Unrelated to dopamine.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.