Dear Abby

proper noun

An advice column written under the pen name Abigail Van Buren.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. An advice column written under the pen name Abigail Van Buren.
  2. The columnist.

    I am not Dr. Phil, Dear Abby, or a qualified relationship counselor.

    2014, Frederick Hertz, Emily Doskow, Making It Legal, Nolo, →ISBN, page 114
    1. Pauline Phillips (1918–2013), the initial columnist (until 2002) and sister of fellow columnist Eppie Lederer (who wrote under the pen name Ann Landers).

      We got Ann Landers and her sister Dear Abby.

      1994 December 3, Adam Sandler, “The Chanukah Song”, Saturday Night Live, National Broadcasting Company
      3 more examples

      Baby, you know it. Even Dear Abby’d say the same.

      1971, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, “Beauty School Dropout”, in Grease

      Well I wrote to Ann Landers and Dear Abby too / And sought their advice as to what I should do

      1976, “Me and the Elephant”, performed by Gene Cotton

      Better known by the pen name Abigail Van Buren — and instantly recognizable by the words that were practically her nickname, “Dear Abby” — she fit thoughtful advice into succinct newspaper columns for more than 40 years.

      2013 January 19, “Dear Abby …”, in Telegram & Gazette, Worcester, Mass., →ISSN, archived from the original on 23 Aug 2024
Cite this entry
APA

Dear Abby. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dear%20Abby

MLA

“Dear Abby.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dear%20Abby. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Dear Abby,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dear%20Abby.

Source: Dear Abby on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.