NICKNAME

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nickname mean? 

• NICKNAME (noun)
  The noun NICKNAME has 2 senses:

1. a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)

2. a descriptive name for a place or thing

  Familiarity information: NICKNAME used as a noun is rare.

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

1. give a nickname to

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• NICKNAME (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

byname; cognomen; moniker; nickname; sobriquet; soubriquet

Context example:

Henry's nickname was Slim

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

appellation; appellative; denomination; designation (identifying word or words by which someone or something is called and classified or distinguished from others)

Derivation:

nickname (give a nickname to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A descriptive name for a place or thing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

the nickname for the U.S. Constitution is 'Old Ironsides'

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

name (a language unit by which a person or thing is known)

• NICKNAME (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they nickname    ... he / she / it nicknames   
Past simple: nicknamed   
Past participle: nicknamed   
-ing form: nicknaming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give a nickname to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

dub; nickname

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

be known as; call; know as; name (assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody something

Sentence example:

They nickname him "Bobby"

Derivation:

nickname (a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name))

 Context examples 

The moon — provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2 — is more than 1,300 times fainter than Makemake.

(Hubble Discovers Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake, NASA)

EXAMPLE(S): proper name, nickname, legal name

(Person Name, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

The Oteo team discovered a similar megamerger formed by ten dusty star-forming galaxies, nicknamed a “dusty red core” because of its very red colour.

(Ancient Galaxy Megamergers, ESO)

“But really, Mr. Copperfield,” she asked, “is it a nickname? And why does he give it you? Is it—eh?—because he thinks you young and innocent? I am so stupid in these things.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This majestic spiral galaxy might earn the nickname the "Godzilla galaxy" because it may be the largest known in the local universe.

(Hubble Surveys Gigantic Galaxy, NASA)

This structure, which the researchers nicknamed Hyperion, is the largest and most massive structure to be found so early in the formation of the Universe.

(Largest Galaxy Proto-Supercluster Found, ESO)

So the king got the nickname of Grisly-beard.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

However, NGTS-4b, nicknamed the ‘Forbidden Planet’, still has its atmosphere intact and is the first exoplanet of its kind to be found in the Neptunian Desert.

(‘Forbidden’ planet found wandering ‘Neptunian Desert’, University of Cambridge)

In fact, the star is so weird that astronomers have nicknamed it "Nasty 1," a play on its catalogue name of NaSt1.

(Hubble Observes One-of-a-Kind Star Nicknamed 'Nasty', NASA)

More than halfway across the universe, an enormous blue star nicknamed Icarus is the farthest individual star ever seen.

(Hubble Uncovers the Farthest Star Ever Seen, NASA)