Standard Lemma guide

dog-eared

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈdɒɡɪəd/
  • General-American: /ˈdɔɡˌɪ(ə)ɹd/
  • General-American: /ˈdɑɡ-/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • By thumbing to the dog-eared pages, she quickly found the items in the catalog she wanted to order.
  • The pages in his favourite book were dog-eared from years of reading it at bedtime.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Ragged, worn-out; also, hackneyed, tired.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: clapped out, damaged, defective, deteriorated, dilapidated, effete, faulty, munted, outworn, passé, past it, past one's prime, raddled, ragged, ravaged, rinky-dink, rough, shabby, stale, tired, unimproved, wasted, weakened, wrecked, wrecksome, worn, worn-out, worsened, banal, bathetic, bromidic, cheesy, stock, clichéd, commonplace, corny, dog-eared, hackneyed, hoary, overdone, overused, overworked, pat, played out, shopworn, threadbare, timeworn, trite, warmed-over, well-worn

Antonyms: fresh, original, new, all-new, brand new, brand spanking new, cherry, freshly made, green, hot, mint, nascent, newish, new-laid, novel, pristine, red-hot, unused, verdurous, virgin, virginal, youthful

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

worn or shabby from overuse or (of pages) from having corners turned down-Clifton Fadiman

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a somewhat dog-eared duke...a bit run down
  • an old book with dog-eared pages

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: eared

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From dog + eared (“having ears (of a specified type)”), modelled after dog’s-ear (obsolete), due to the similarity of their appearance to the folded ears of certain dogs. The word is analysable as dog-ear (“to fold the corner of a book’s page”) + -ed (suffix forming possessional adjectives) (dog-ear is attested in print later than dog-eared).

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 摺頁的 /折页的 — of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark
  • French: corné — of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark
  • French: écorné — of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark
  • German: zerlesen — of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark
  • German: zerfleddert — of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark
  • Hungarian: szamárfüles — of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark
  • Swedish: hundörad — of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark
  • Chinese Mandarin: 老掉牙 (lǎodiàoyá) — ragged, worn-out; hackneyed, tired
  • French: écorné — ragged, worn-out; hackneyed, tired
  • Spanish: manoseado — ragged, worn-out; hackneyed, tired