dummy
- 01 B1 Intermediate
n.a model that looks like a person, used for displaying clothes or in safety tests.
n.a physical representation of a human being, often used for garment display or as a proxy in crash testing.
Simple“The shop window had a dummy wearing a bright red winter coat.”
In context“Engineers placed a crash-test dummy in the driver's seat to measure the impact of the collision on a human frame.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.an insulting word for someone you think is stupid.
n.a pejorative term for a person perceived as unintelligent or slow-witted.
Simple“I felt like such a dummy when I realized I had my shirt on backwards.”
In context“He was tired of being treated like a dummy by his colleagues just because he lacked a formal degree.”
- 03 B1 Intermediate
n.a rubber or plastic object that a baby sucks on to stay calm.
n.a rubber or silicone teat given to an infant to soothe them through the sucking reflex.
Simple“The baby stopped crying as soon as his mother gave him his dummy.”
In context“Pediatricians often debate the long-term effects of prolonged dummy use on a child's dental development.”
Synonymspacifiersoother - 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a move where you pretend to pass or kick the ball to trick the other team.
n.a deceptive move or feint intended to mislead an opponent regarding one's next action.
Simple“The striker sold the defender a dummy and ran straight toward the goal.”
In context“By selling the goalkeeper a dummy, the forward created enough space to slot the ball into the bottom corner.”
- 05 C1 Advanced
n.a fake object or word used temporarily until the real one is ready.
n.a non-functional or placeholder element used in place of a functional one for testing or structural purposes.
Simple“The designer used dummy text to see how the layout would look.”
In context“The programmer inserted a dummy variable to ensure the function would compile while the database was still offline.”
UsageOften used as an attributive noun, as in 'dummy variable' or 'dummy text'.
Synonymsplaceholdermock up - 06 C2 Proficiency
n.a word like 'it' or 'there' that fills a space in a sentence but has no real meaning.
n.an expletive or pleonastic word that serves a purely structural role in a sentence without carrying semantic content.
Simple“In the sentence 'It is raining', the word 'it' is a dummy subject.”
In context“The use of a dummy auxiliary, such as 'do' in English questions, is a distinctive feature of the language's syntax.”
Synonymsexpletiveplaceholder - 07 C1 Advanced
v.to make a simple, fake version of something to show how it will work.
v.to create a mock-up or non-functional prototype of a product or document.
Simple“We need to dummy up the book cover before we send it to the printer.”
In context“The architects dummied up a cardboard model to demonstrate the scale of the atrium to the investors.”
Synonymsmock upprototype - 08 C1 Advanced
“My dummy account, Mohammed, was a profile set to private and designed to look similar to the accounts of younger Moroccan people who were liking and commenting on the posts advertising crossings.”
From dumb + -y. Pacifier sense from dummy teat where dummy is in the sense of a nonfunctional replica.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.