What does "dope" mean?
Any viscous liquid or paste, such as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface.
Dope
/[dəʊp]/ adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any viscous liquid or paste, such as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface.
- Grammar: dope is listed as adj, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: account, acquaintance, add, addictive drug.
- Useful contrasts: awful, bad, boring.
- Usage evidence: Just yesterday I told that dope about everything, and today he's playing his old tricks again! What's wrong with him?
How to use "dope"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "dope" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "dope" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "dope" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "dope" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "dope" is acting as adj, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "account" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "dope", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any viscous liquid or paste, such as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface. uncountable
"Use a good pipe dope on the NPT threads. When applying pipe dope do not put any on the first two threads from the end. Always put dope on the male thread—never on the female thread."
- 2 Acronym of data on previous engagement. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
- 3 street names for marijuana wordnet
- 4 An absorbent material used to hold a liquid. uncountable
- 5 slang terms for inside information wordnet
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 Any varnish used to coat a part, such as an airplane wing or a hot-air balloon in order to waterproof, strengthen, etc. uncountable
- 7 carbonated drink flavored with extract from kola nuts wordnet
- 8 Any of various recreational substances slang, uncountable
"Do you remember me? / How we used to be / Helpless and happy and blind? / Sunk without hope / In a haze of good dope / And cheap wine?"
- 9 an ignorant or foolish person wordnet
- 10 Any of various recreational substances:; An opiate, now particularly heroin. countable, slang, uncountable
"If you are at all bright, don't be a grind. Grinding may make a second-hand genius of you (for all the real things are dead), and if you become a genius you will be sure to smoke dope or swallow laudanum. They all did it."
- 11 Any of various recreational substances:; Marijuana. countable, slang, uncountable
"(Senator): Well good! Good! This is a fine batch of corn you have! (Farmer): 'Taint corn. It's dope."
- 12 Information, usually from an inside source, originally in horse racing and other sports. slang, uncountable
"What's the latest dope on the stock market?"
- 13 Ballistic data on previously fired rounds, used to calculate the required hold over a target. uncountable
- 14 A stupid person. countable, derogatory, slang
"The reasons why this verification is made by her and not by the defendant is because he is a dope and a fat-head and hasn't sense enough to do it himself."
- 15 Dessert topping. US, countable, uncountable
- 16 A soft drink. Appalachia, countable, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To affect with drugs. slang, transitive
"Cecil Winwood accepted the test. He claimed that he could dope the guards the night of the break. "Talk is cheap," said Long Bill Hodge. "What we want is the goods. Dope one of the guards to-night.""
- 2 give a narcotic to wordnet
- 3 To treat with dope (lubricant, etc.). transitive
- 4 add impurities to (a semiconductor) in order to produce or modify its properties wordnet
- 5 To add a dopant such as arsenic to (a pure semiconductor such as silicon). transitive
"Another way to dope semiconductors is to use materials like boron, in which each atom has one fewer valence electron than does a sillicon atom."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 take drugs to improve one's athletic performance wordnet
- 7 To use drugs; especially, to use prohibited performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sporting competitions. intransitive
"The more experienced cyclists, who doped or used to dope, transmitted the culture of doping to the younger cyclists, teaching them doping methods and suggesting which substances to use."
- 8 To judge or guess; to predict the result of. dated, slang, transitive
Adjective
- 1 Amazing; cool. slang
"That party was dope!"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Just yesterday I told that dope about everything, and today he's playing his old tricks again! What's wrong with him?"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "dope"?
Common synonyms include: account, acquaintance, add, addictive drug, alcohol, algebraize.
How do you use "dope" in a sentence?
Just yesterday I told that dope about everything, and today he's playing his old tricks again! What's wrong with him?
How do you pronounce "dope"?
Pronounced /[dəʊp]/.
Etymology
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.