dada

American  

[dah-dah] / ˈdɑ dɑ /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. the style and techniques of a group of artists, writers, etc., of the early 20th century who exploited accidental and incongruous effects in their work and who programmatically challenged established canons of art, thought, morality, etc.

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Dada British  

/ ˈdɑːdɑːˌɪzəm, ˈdɑːdɑː /

noun

1. a nihilistic artistic movement of the early 20th century in W Europe and the US, founded on principles of irrationality, incongruity, and irreverence towards accepted aesthetic criteria

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Other Word Forms

• Dadaist noun
• Dadaistic adjective
• Dadaistically adverb
• dadaism noun
• dadaist noun
• dadaistic adjective
• dadaistically adverb

Etymology

Origin of dada

1915–20; < French: hobby horse, childish reduplication of da giddyap

Explanation

Dada is another way to say "daddy" or "papa," a nickname for your father. The word dada is also the name of an early 20th-century art movement that protested conventional ideas using humor and absurdity. Across most cultures, dada is an extremely common first word (or sound) spoken by babies. In English, this is usually translated as "dad" or "daddy," and it sometimes continues to be a young child's name for their father. The avant-garde art movement took the word as its name, often capitalized as Dada, from its silly, innocent sound and multiple meanings (including "rocking horse" in French and "yes, yes" in Romanian). Ironically, this art movement was intentionally anti-art, with Dadaist artists claiming that "Dada means nothing."

Example Sentences

In some ways, that is what makes it dada to me.

From Salon • Mar. 21, 2025

Mr Currie's show, Shtoom, is described on the theatre website as a "unique, surrealist, dada punk-clown, non-verbal experience".

From BBC • Feb. 13, 2024

El estado contaba con una fuerza laboral altamente calificada, dada la presencia de universidades que producían en masa graduados de ingeniería, entre ellas el Tec de Monterrey, a menudo denominado “el MIT de México”.

From New York Times • Feb. 3, 2023

Some remind me of the Fauvist paintings, while others feel cubist and still others are straight-up dada.

From The Guardian • May 8, 2020

He was humming an old Pashto song, by Ustad Awal Mir: Da ze ma ziba watan, da ze ma dada watan.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini