duff Synonyms & Antonyms
Choose a meaning, then find a word that fits your sentence.
Duff as a Noun
Dough.
A stiff flour pudding, often with dried fruit, boiled in a cloth bag, or steamed.
A pudding-style dessert, especially one made with plums or (in the Bahamas) guavas.
Decaying vegetable matter on the forest floor.
Coal dust, especially that left after screening or combined with other small, unsaleable bits of coal.
Fine and dry coal in small pieces, usually anthracite.
A mixture of coal and rock.
The bits left in the bottom of the bag after the booty has been consumed, like crumbs.
Something spurious or fake; a counterfeit; a worthless thing; a defective thing.
An error.
The buttocks.
Alternative form of daf (“type of drum”).
A pudding-style dessert, especially one made with plums.
Something spurious or fake; a counterfeit, a worthless thing.
(1800s) An error.
A large frame drum, resembling a tambourine, used to accompany popular and classical music in the Middle East.
Duff as an Adjective
Worthless; not working properly, defective.
Why do I always get a shopping trolley with duff wheels?
Duff as a Verb
To disguise something to make it look new.
To sell spurious goods, often under pretence of their being stolen or smuggled.
To alter the branding of stolen cattle; to steal cattle.
To hit the ground behind the ball.
(with "up") To beat up.
I heard Nick got duffed up behind the shopping centre at the weekend.
Duff in a Sentence
Why do I always get a shopping trolley with duff wheels?
I heard Nick got duffed up behind the shopping centre at the weekend.
Word Forms & Grammar
duff (countable and uncountable, plural duffs)
duff (comparative duffer, superlative duffest)
duff (plural duffs)
duff (third-person singular simple present duffs, present participle duffing, simple past and past participle duffed)
Words That Rhyme With Duff
Origin of Duff
Origin 1: Representing a northern England and Scots pronunciation of dough.
Origin 2: Uncertain; probably related to Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).
Origin 3: Uncertain; perhaps the same as Etymology 1, above.
Origin 4: Originally thieves' slang; probably a back-formation from duffer.
Duff: Key Facts
| Part of speech | noun, adjective, verb |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /dʌf/ |
| Meaning | Dough |
| Plural | duffs |
| Comparative / superlative | duffer, duffest |
| Verb forms | duffs, duffing, duffed |
Quick Answers About Duff
Is duff a noun or an adjective?
Duff is mainly used as a noun, but it can also be used as an adjective and a verb.
What is the plural of duff?
The plural of duff is duffs.
What is the past tense of duff?
The past tense of duff is duffed. The present participle is duffing.
What are the comparative and superlative forms of duff?
The comparative form is duffer and the superlative form is duffest.