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dear

Pronunciation: /dɪə/

The English word “dear” has 18 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. High in price; expensive.
  2. Loved; lovable.
  3. Lovely; kind.
  4. Loving, affectionate, heartfelt
  5. Precious to or greatly valued by someone.
  6. A formal way to start (possibly after my) addressing somebody at the beginning of a letter, memo etc.
  7. A formal way to start (often after my) addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly.
  8. An ironic way to start (often after my) addressing an inferior or someone one dislikes.
  9. Noble.
  10. Severe, or severely affected; sore.
  11. Fierce.

noun

  1. A very kind, loving person.
  2. A beloved person.
  3. An affectionate, familiar term of address, such as used between husband and wife.
  4. An elderly person, especially a woman.

verb

  1. To endear.

adverb

  1. Dearly; at a high price.

interjection

  1. Indicating surprise, pity, or disapproval.

Etymology

From Middle English dere, from Old English dēore, dīere, dīore, dȳre (“of great value or excellence, expensive, beloved”), from Proto-West Germanic *diurī, from Proto-Germanic *diurijaz (“dear, precious; expensive”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn; hot, warm”). Cognates Cognate with Yola dear (“dear”), Saterland Frisian djuur (“precious, dear, costly, expensive”), Alemannic…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.