Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: John Doe |
John DoeNoun1. A hypothetical average man. 2. An unknown or fictitious man who is a party to legal proceedings. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | John Doe At one time used in law pleadings for an hypothetical plaintiff; the supposititious defendant being "Richard Roe." These fictions are not now used. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Oxford English Dictionary states says that John Doe is "the name given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff, in the (now obsolete) mixed action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being called Richard Roe.
[A very entertaining account of the reasons why a fictitious tenant and a fictitious defendant were named is found in Charles Rembar's book The Law of the Land.]
By extension from the law usage, John Doe is often used in computer software needing a default or example first and last name for a form. (Strangely enough, the default defendant's name is used here; does this imply that the software company is attacking the user?)
See also: A N Other
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "John Doe."
Synonym: John DoeSynonym: man in the street (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Unsubstantiality | Nothing, naught, nil, nullity, zero, cipher, no one, nobody; never a one, ne'er a one; no such thing, none in the world; nothing whatever, nothing at all, nothing on earth; not a particle; (smallness); all talk, moonshine, stuff and nonsense; matter of no importance, matter of no consequence. thing of naught, man of straw, John Doe and Richard Roe, faggot voter; nominis umbra, nonentity; flash in the pan, vox et praeterea nihil. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: John Doe |
| English words defined with "John Doe": Versus. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "John Doe": intelligent key ♦ Noakes ♦ Styles. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | If we catch John Doe and he turns out to be the devil, I mean if he's Satan himself, that might live up to our expectations, but he's not the devil. (Se7en; writing credit: Andrew Kevin Walker) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Meet John Doe (1941) The People Vs. John Doe (1916) John Doe (2002) The L.A. Thing with John Doe (1995) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Expression using "John Doe": john doe and richard roe. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
john doe | 469 |
fox john doe | 45 |
john doe tv | 21 |
meet john doe | 4 |
john doe music | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "John Doe"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | وسط (amid, amidst, among, amongst, center, centre, endo-, fair, mean, medium, middle, midst, milieu, navel, ordinary, umbilicus, waist). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | среден човек, фиктивен ищец в съдебен процес, обикновен човек (straight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | moyen. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | פלו י אלמו י (mr.x). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | fiktív személy jogi vitában. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ohnjay oeday om de rând (commoner), anonim (anonym, anonymous, authorless, limited, nameless, unnamed). (various references) воображаемый истец. (various references) prosečan čovek. (various references) n.n.. (various references) kimliği belirsiz kimse, falanca kişi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Sanctus Johannes Baptista, Zeidae, Zenopsis conchifer, Zenopsis conchifera, Zenopsis ocellata, Zeus faber, Zeus japonicus, Zeus pungio. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-e-h-j-n-o-o" | |
-2 letters: honed, odeon, oohed. | |
-3 letters: dojo, done, hoed, hone, hood, jeon, john, node, ohed. | |
-4 letters: den, doe, don, edh, end, eon, hen, hod, hoe, hon, joe, nod, noh, noo, ode, oho, one, ooh. | |
-5 letters: de, do, ed, eh, en, he, ho, jo, ne, no, od, oe, oh, on. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Expressions 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Translations: Ancient 10. Anagrams 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
