DUMMY (dummied)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: dummied   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dummy mean? 

• DUMMY (noun)
  The noun DUMMY has 4 senses:

1. a person who does not talk

2. an ignorant or foolish person

3. a figure representing the human form

4. a cartridge containing an explosive charge but no bullet

  Familiarity information: DUMMY used as a noun is uncommon.

• DUMMY (adjective)
  The adjective DUMMY has 1 sense:

1. having the appearance of being real but lacking capacity to function

  Familiarity information: DUMMY used as an adjective is very rare.

• DUMMY (verb)
  The verb DUMMY has 1 sense:

1. make a dummy of

  Familiarity information: DUMMY used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DUMMY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who does not talk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dummy; silent person

Hypernyms ("dummy" is a kind of...):

deaf-and-dumb person; deaf-mute; mute (a deaf person who is unable to speak)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An ignorant or foolish person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

boob; booby; dope; dumbbell; dummy; pinhead

Hypernyms ("dummy" is a kind of...):

simple; simpleton (a person lacking intelligence or common sense)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A figure representing the human form

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("dummy" is a kind of...):

figure (a model of a bodily form (especially of a person))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dummy"):

lay figure (dummy in the form of an artist's jointed model of the human body)

form; manakin; manikin; mannequin; mannikin (a life-size dummy used to display clothes)

ventriloquist's dummy (a wooden dummy into which a ventriloquist projects the voice)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A cartridge containing an explosive charge but no bullet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

blank; blank shell; dummy

Hypernyms ("dummy" is a kind of...):

cartridge (ammunition consisting of a cylindrical casing containing an explosive charge and a bullet; fired from a rifle or handgun)

• DUMMY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having the appearance of being real but lacking capacity to function

Context example:

a dummy corporation

Similar:

artificial; unreal (contrived by art rather than nature)

• DUMMY (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a dummy of

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

dummy; dummy up

Context example:

dummy up the books that are to be published

Hypernyms (to "dummy" is one way to...):

create; make; produce (create or manufacture a man-made product)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

“Why, it’s a dummy,” said he.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In a joint-trial held by University College London, in England, and the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, 76 healthy volunteers were given either the drug or a placebo dummy pill.

(Antibiotics Could Prevent, Cure PTSD, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Am I such a farcical bungler, Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy, and expect that some of the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When they analysed the hormonal activity of the samples taken from the selected materials, based on oestrogenicity and anti-androgenicity assays, the items presenting the most hormonal activity were the dummy, the three-way stopcock, and the patterned transparent film dressing.

(Babies in neonatal intensive care units are exposed to harmful chemical substances found in plastic, University of Granada)

They seem to have been of a most interesting character—dummy bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were two occupants of the room—one, Mrs. Hudson, who beamed upon us both as we entered—the other, the strange dummy which had played so important a part in the evening’s adventures.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)