HOW DO YOU DO Definition & Meaning

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how do you do

interjection

(used as a conventional greeting.)

how-do-you-do

Also how-de-do

[hou-duh-yuh-doo]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Informal.

plural

how-do-you-dos

a greeting; salutation.
She smiled and gave him a how-do-you-do fit for a king.
an awkward or unpleasant event or situation.
It's a fine how-do-you-do that they've refused to help us out.

how do you do

Also: how do?.�� how d'ye do?.��a formal greeting said by people who are being introduced to each other or are meeting for the first time

noun

informal��a difficult situation

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of how do you do¹

First recorded in 1625–35

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Idioms and Phrases

A conventional greeting used mostly after being introduced to someone, as in And this is our youngest—say “How do you do” to Mr. Smith. Although it is a question, it requires no reply. Originally, in the 1600s, this expression was an inquiry after a person's health or standing, how do you do meaning “how do you fare?” Today we usually express this as How are you? or How are you doing? or How goes it? or How's it going? Even more general are the slangy locutions How are things? or How's tricks? All of these greetings date from the first half of the 1900s.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

One of the marvels of the book is its first-person narration, and we wondered, “How do you do that on screen?”

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Like with “MobLand,” it had all of the ingredients and then how do you do it?

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He added: “How do you do that with this president?”

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"That's how sick these people are, because how do you do that to a mom?"

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Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly said last month of Ohtani: “He wants to be the most amazing baseball player in the history of the world. How do you do that? You win World Series. And how do you win World Series? You help figure out how to make the club that much better. He made the club that much better when he came to that decision.”

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Related 51�Թ�s

hello��
nod��
ovation��
reception��
salute��

how does that grab you?howdy

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