DEAR | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of dear in English dearadjective uk /dɪər/ us /dɪr/

dear adjective (LOVED)

Add to word list Add to word list B2 loved or liked very much: She was a very dear friend.dear to He was very dear to me. This place is very dear to me - we came here on our honeymoon. What a dear (= very attractive) little kitten!my dear My dear Gina - how nice to see you! A1 used at the beginning of a letter to greet the person you are writing to: Dear Kerry/Mum and Dad/Ms Smith/Sir

• We will always remember our dear departed friends.
• In loving memory of my dear husband, who departed this life on 5 May, 1978.
• My dear daughter arranged this whole holiday for me.
• Emily is such a dear, kind person - she would never hurt anyone.
• Look what those dear boys have bought me for my birthday!

Loving and in love

• absence
• absence makes the heart grow fonder idiom
• adoration
• adoring
• adoringly
• adorkable
• dotty
• endearment
• ever-loving
• fall for someone phrasal verb
• fall in love idiom
• lovey
• lovey-dovey
• loving
• loving-kindness
• lovingly
• sweep
• the way to sb's heart is through ... idiom
• worship the ground someone walks on idiom
• young love idiom

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Written greetings

dear adjective (EXPENSIVE)

mainly UK comparative dearer | superlative dearest costing too much: The food was good but very dear. Synonym expensive costing a lot of money

• expensiveHe thinks he's special with his expensive suits and fancy shoes.
• dearUK I find the veg too dear in that supermarket.
• costlyThey made several costly mistakes, including spending $60 million on shoddy machinery.
• priceyThe restaurants in town are a bit pricey.
• exclusiveThey have an apartment in an exclusive part of town.

See more results » Costing too much

• bottomless pit
• capital intensive
• cheap at half the price idiom
• clobber
• cost a fortune
• cost an arm and a leg/a small fortune idiom
• cost someone a pretty penny idiom
• cost someone dear idiom
• daylight robbery
• gouge
• out of sight idiom
• outprice
• overcharge
• pretty
• price fixing
• price gouging
• price someone out phrasal verb
• price yourself out of the market idiom
• sight
• sky-high

See more results »

Idiom

for dear life dearexclamation   informal uk /dɪər/ us /dɪr/ (also old-fashioned dearie) A2 used in expressions of anger, disappointment, sadness, or surprise: oh dear Oh dear! I've lost my keys again.dear me Dear me, it's already 4.30 and I said I'd be home by 5.00! Dearie me, what a mess! Linguistics: interjections

• aiyo
• attaboy
• attagirl
• auf Wiedersehen
• aw shucks
• bless you! idiom
• doctor
• guess
• hip
• lord
• lordy
• marry
• mazel tov
• more
• roll
• yeah, right! idiom
• yech
• yeet
• yoicks
• yoink

See more results » dearnoun uk /dɪər/ us /dɪr/ [ C usually singular ] informal a kind person: Annie's such a dear - she's brought me breakfast in bed every morning this week. [ as form of address ] used to address someone you love or are being friendly to, not used between men: Here's your receipt, dear. Would you like a drink, dear?my dear Lovely to see you, my dear. People having good qualities

• advertisement
• altruist
• angel
• beatify
• brick
• bunch
• gem
• hidden depths
• jewel
• mensch
• not be as black as you are painted idiom
• paragon
• peach
• poppet
• rough diamond
• saint
• salt of the earth idiom
• softie
• sweetheart
• treasure

See more results » (Definition of dear from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

dear | American Dictionary

dearadjective [ -er/-est only ] us /dɪər/

dear adjective [-er/-est only] (LOVED)

Add to word list Add to word list loved or greatly liked: She’s a dear friend. Dear is used at the beginning of a letter to greet the person you are writing to: Dear Kerrie/Mom and Dad/Ms. Smith/Sir Dearest can be used in a letter to greet someone you love: Dearest Ben, I think of you every day. dearexclamation   infml us /dɪər/

dear exclamation (EXPRESSION)

used to express annoyance, disappointment, unhappiness, or surprise: Oh dear! I’ve lost my keys again. dearnoun [ C ] us /dɪr/

dear noun [C] (LOVED PERSON)

a person who is loved or greatly liked: Annie’s such a dear. Dear is used to address someone in a friendly way, esp. someone you love or a child: Have something to eat, dear. (Definition of dear from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

dear | Business English

dearadjective UK uk /dɪər/ us Add to word list Add to word list expensive: Tourist restaurants are too dear for the locals.  cost sb dear to cause someone to have a lot problems or to lose a lot of money: The Government's lack of knowledge about IT systems has undoubtedly cost it dear. (Definition of dear from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of dear

dear They haven't a clue that they are doing so, poor dears, but that doesn't destroy the fact that they are. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 The poor old dears in the fixed income group are disappointed in the party opposite. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 There is no precedent whatever for instructing an authority—an authority, mark you—to do all that it can to secure, poor dears. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 There is a great mistake which one often dears in talking about scientific teaching. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 I ask myself what the poor dears have done wrong. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 We should not fool ourselves into believing that these old people are delightful dears that one wants to be with all the time. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Dearing made it clear that university research infrastructure had been allowed to run down. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 I think that dears that point. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 I suppose that parents like them because they want somewhere where they can get rid of the little dears for a few hours and a playgroup will do. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Dearing feared that, if the student contribution was raised by the abolition of maintenance grant, the money might never reach the higher education institutions at all. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Dearing identified a funding gap of £8 billion. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Dearing looked studiously at the problem. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Dearing recommended that, in the forthcoming financial year, an additional £350 million should be put into universities and, in the following year, the figure should be £565 million. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 She rejects his advances unless he destroys the things dearest to him: a tower he has inherited and his favourite falcon. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license. The land is the dearest thing that we have. From Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license. See all examples of dear These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. What is the pronunciation of dear?

Translations of dear

in Chinese (Traditional) 親愛的, 親愛的，心愛的, 可愛的… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 亲爱的, 亲爱的，心爱的, 可爱的… See more in Spanish querido, caro, ¡oh… See more in Portuguese querido, caro, prezado… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian प्रिय, लाडका, लाडकी - प्रेम असलेली किंवा आवडणारी व्यक्ती… See more 親愛なる（手紙の書出しで名前の前に加える）, 大事な, 高価な… See more sayın, sevgili, tatlı… See more cher/chère, mon chéri / ma chérie, cher… See more benvolgut, estimat, car… See more duur, lief, dierbaar… See more மிகவும் நேசிக்கும் அல்லது விரும்பக்கூடிய, நீங்கள் கடிதம் எழுதும் நபரை வாழ்த்துவதற்கு அதன் தொடக்கத்தில் பயன்படுத்தப்படுகிறது, கோபம்… See more प्यारा, प्रिय, डियर… See more પ્રિય, પ્યારું, ડીર… See more dyr, kær, dyrebar for… See more dyr, rar, gullig… See more mahal, penyayang, sangat disayangi… See more teuer, lieb, Liebe/Lieber… See more kjære, kjær, god… See more پیارا, عزیز, چہیتا… See more дорогий, чарівний, чудовий… See more బాగా ప్రేమించన లేదా నచ్చిన, డియర్, ప్రియమైన… See more প্রিয়, ভালোবাসার বা পছন্দের, আপনি যাকে লিখছেন তাকে শুভেচ্ছা জানাতে একটি চিঠির শুরুতে ব্যবহৃত হয়… See more drahý, milý, milovaný (kým)… See more mahal, tersayang, disayang… See more มีค่า, ซึ่งเป็นที่รักยิ่ง, ซึ่งเป็นที่รัก… See more đắt đỏ, đáng yêu, rất được quý trọng… See more drogi, szanowny, bliski… See more 편지 앞부분에 -씨께, 사랑하는, 비싼… See more caro, cara, adorabile… See more Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool

Browse

deamination dean dean's list deanery BETA dear dear departed Dear John letter Dear Madam phrase dear me {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of dear

• dear me
• oh dear
• Dear John letter
• dear money
• dear departed
• dear to someone
• dear-money policy

See all meanings

• Dear Sir phrase
• Dear Madam phrase
• my (dear) boy idiom
• cost someone dear idiom
• for dear life idiom
• Dear Sir or Madam phrase
• dear to someone's heart, at close to someone's heart idiom

See all idioms and phrases

Word of the Day

itch to do something

to want to do something very much and as soon as possible

About this

Blog

Walk a mile in my shoes (Words about empathy)

March 11, 2026 Read More

New Words

fail watching March 09, 2026 More new words has been added to list To top AI Assistant Contents EnglishAmericanBusinessExamplesTranslations AI Assistant {{#displayLoginPopup}} Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content: Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans Sign up now or Log in Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Create word lists and quizzes for free Sign up now or Log in {{/displayLoginPopup}} {{#displayClassicSurvey}} {{/displayClassicSurvey}}

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
• My profile
• +Plus help
• Log out

AI Assistant Dictionary Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English Translations Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English English–Danish Danish–English English–Dutch Dutch–English English–French French–English English–German German–English English–Indonesian Indonesian–English English–Italian Italian–English English–Japanese Japanese–English English–Norwegian Norwegian–English English–Polish Polish–English English–Portuguese Portuguese–English English–Spanish Spanish–English English–Swedish Swedish–English Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese Translate Grammar Thesaurus Pronunciation Cambridge Dictionary +Plus Games {{userName}}

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
• My profile
• +Plus help
• Log out

Log in / Sign up English (UK) Change English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Follow us Choose a dictionary

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• Translation Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries
  • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
  • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
  • English–Danish Danish–English
  • English–Dutch Dutch–English
  • English–French French–English
  • English–German German–English
  • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
  • English–Italian Italian–English
  • English–Japanese Japanese–English
  • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
  • English–Polish Polish–English
  • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
  • English–Spanish Spanish–English
  • English–Swedish Swedish–English
  Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists

Choose your language English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Contents

• English   
  • Adjective 
    • dear (LOVED)
    • dear (EXPENSIVE)
  ExclamationNoun
• American   
  • Adjective 
    • dear (LOVED)
  • Exclamation 
    • dear (EXPRESSION)
  • Noun 
    • dear (LOVED PERSON)
• Business   
  • Adjective 
    • dear
    • cost sb dear
• Examples

• Translations
• Grammar
• All translations

My word lists

To add dear to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in My word lists

Add dear to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{name}} More Go to your word lists {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} Tell us about this example sentence: The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}}