Meaning & use
dub
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To give someone or something a name or nickname, often one that sticks in public use.
Grammar: Takes an object plus the name: reporters dubbed the storm Hurricane Mae.
Patterns
- dub someone something
- dub something as something
Reporters dubbed the new bridge the Ribbon.
Her classmates dubbed her the Professor because she always carried a book.
The press dubbed the heat wave a summer of fire.
verbtransitive
To replace the original spoken language of a film or show with a recording in another language.
Grammar: Takes the film as object: they dubbed the movie into Spanish.
Patterns
- dub something into a language
- dub something in a language
The studio dubbed the cartoon into six languages.
Many viewers prefer to watch the film dubbed rather than read subtitles.
The actor dubbed his own lines for the English version.
verbtransitiveold-fashioned
To make a knight by touching a sword to the person's shoulders in a ceremony.
Grammar: Takes the person as object: the king dubbed him a knight.
Patterns
- dub someone a knight
The queen dubbed the soldier a knight for his bravery.
In the legend, the king dubbed the young squire at dawn.
Word forms
| third person singular | dubs |
|---|---|
| past tense | dubbed |
| past participle | dubbed |
| -ing form | dubbing |
Common combinations
- dubbed in English
- The series is dubbed in English for overseas viewers.
- dub over
- They dubbed over the noisy scene afterward.
- dubbed a hero
- The firefighter was dubbed a hero by the local paper.
- dub something a success
- Critics dubbed the festival a success.
- a dubbed version
- The dubbed version is shown on weekday afternoons.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nickname
- Nickname as a verb means to give a friendly name, while dub is wider and often used for names created by the media.
- label
- Label suggests sorting something into a category, sometimes unfairly, whereas dub just names it.
- christen
- Christen sounds ceremonial or humorous, as if naming a baby or ship.
- call
- Call is the plain everyday verb, with no suggestion that the name was newly invented.
Word family
Commonly confused: dub or dab? dub or subtitle?
dub vs dab
Dab means to touch lightly and is unrelated to naming or film sound.
dub vs subtitle
Subtitles add written words and keep the original voices, whereas dubbing replaces the voices.
Practice
Many families prefer the film to be ___ rather than shown with subtitles.
Choose one answer.
Dubbed means the dialogue is replaced by another language. Dabbed, doubled and debuted look or sound similar but do not describe replacing speech.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dub”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.