BASTARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bastard mean? 

• BASTARD (noun)
  The noun BASTARD has 3 senses:

1. insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous

2. the illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents

3. derogatory term for a variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin

  Familiarity information: BASTARD used as a noun is uncommon.

• BASTARD (adjective)
  The adjective BASTARD has 1 sense:

1. fraudulent; having a misleading appearance

  Familiarity information: BASTARD used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BASTARD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

asshole; bastard; cocksucker; dickhead; mother fucker; motherfucker; prick; shit; SOB; son of a bitch; whoreson

Hypernyms ("bastard" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

Domain usage:

dirty word; filth; obscenity; smut; vulgarism (an offensive or indecent word or phrase)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bastard; by-blow; illegitimate; illegitimate child; love child; whoreson

Hypernyms ("bastard" is a kind of...):

issue; offspring; progeny (the immediate descendants of a person)

Derivation:

bastardise; bastardize (declare a child to be illegitimate)

bastardly (born out of wedlock)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Derogatory term for a variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bastard; mongrel

Context example:

the architecture was a kind of bastard suggesting Gothic but not true Gothic

Hypernyms ("bastard" is a kind of...):

variation (an artifact that deviates from a norm or standard)

Domain usage:

depreciation; derogation; disparagement (a communication that belittles somebody or something)

Derivation:

bastard (fraudulent; having a misleading appearance)

bastardise; bastardize (change something so that its value declines; for example, art forms)

bastardly (of no value or worth)

• BASTARD (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fraudulent; having a misleading appearance

Synonyms:

bastard; bogus; fake; phoney; phony

Similar:

counterfeit; imitative (not genuine; imitating something superior)

Derivation:

bastard (derogatory term for a variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin)

 Context examples 

But tell me, dear coz, what shall we do next, when we have driven this bastard Henry from the kingdom which he hath filched?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I told you I would send Adele to school; and what do I want with a child for a companion, and not my own child,—a French dancer's bastard?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Some have whispered to you that she is my bastard half-sister: some, my cast-off mistress.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

'Let the bastards come in here if they want you, Rosy, but don't you, so help me, move outside this room.'

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)