Word.ws English Dictionary

man in the moon

/ˌmæn ɪn ðə ˈmuːn/US/ˌmæn ən ðə ˈmun/

man in the moon proper noun: an image of a man perceived in the dark maria (plains or "seas") and light highlands or other features of the Moon, originally regarded as a man with a burden on his back or accompanied by a small dog, and now more commonly as a man's face in the full moon or his profile in a crescent moon; hence, an imaginary man thought to be living on the Moon.

Proper noun

man in the moon

  1. An image of a man perceived in the dark maria (plains or "seas") and light highlands or other features of the Moon, originally regarded as a man with a burden on his back or accompanied by a small dog, and now more commonly as a man's face in the full moon or his profile in a crescent moon; hence, an imaginary man thought to be living on the Moon.
    • Cal[iban]. Ha'ſt thou not dropt from heauen ? / Ste[phano]. Out o'th Moone I doe aſſure thee. I vvas the Man ith' Moone, vvhen time vvas. / Cal. I haue ſeene thee in her: and I doe adore thee: My Miſtris [Miranda] ſhevv'd me thee, and thy Dog, and thy Buſh.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    • Thy VVife is a Conſtellation of Vertues; ſhe's the Moon, and thou art the Man in the Moon: Nay, ſhe is more Illuſtrious than the Moon; for ſhe has her Chaſtity vvithout her Inconſtancy, 'S'bud I vvas but in Jeſt.1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 24
    Synonyms:
    moonman
  2. (figuratively, obsolete) An imaginary person; also (UK politics, slang), an unidentified person who illegally pays for election expenditure and electors' expenses, as long as the latter vote as the person wishes.
    • Non eſt inventus: there's no ſuch man to be found; let them that have the commiſſion for the concealments looke after it, or the man in the moone put for it.1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with...
    • 235. To whom did you say that you wanted a ticket for home?—The stranger. / 236. The Man in the Moon?—Yes. / […] / 245. And I may ask you, was it also included as one of the tickets in the amount that the Man in the Moon paid you?—[…]—Yes, it was; the last received by me.1851 March 29, Edwin James, counsel for the petitioners; William Locke, witness, “Minutes of Evidence Taken before the Select Committee on the Aylesbury Election Petition”, in Reports from...

man in the moon meaning in Indonesian

man in the moon in Indonesian

image of a man perceived in the dark maria and light highlands or other features of the Moon; imaginary man thought to be living on the Moon
Manusia di Bulan

Examples of man in the moon in a sentence

  • I knevv vvell enough at firſt, that theſe vvere mad, hare-brain'd Notions, and I thought no more of being ſerious in them, than I thought of being a Man in the Moon: […]1723, [Daniel Defoe], The History and Remarkable Life of the Truly Honourable Col. Jacque, Commonly Call’d Col. Jack, […], 2nd edition...
  • I declare, quoth my uncle, I knovv no more vvhich it is, than the man in the moon;—[…]1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter VII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume II, London...
  • [H]ow my little bit of dinner slides itself down my throat, I know no more than a man in the moon.1859 November 26 – 1860 August 25, [William] Wilkie Collins, “The Narrative of Walter Hartright, of Clement’s Inn, London”, in The Woman in...

Synonyms of man in the moon

Forms of man in the moon

alternative formman on the moon

Origin of man in the moon

From man + in + the + moon.

Words formed from man in the moon

Words that rhyme with man in the moon

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about man in the moon

What does man in the moon mean?
Man in the moon means an image of a man perceived in the dark maria (plains or "seas") and light highlands or other features of the Moon, originally regarded as a man with a burden on his back or accompanied by a small dog, and now more commonly as a man's face in the full moon or his profile in a crescent moon; hence, an imaginary man thought to be living on the Moon.
What is man in the moon in Indonesian?
Man in the moon in Indonesian is Manusia di Bulan. See Man in the moon meaning in Indonesian.
How do you use man in the moon in a sentence?
I knevv vvell enough at firſt, that theſe vvere mad, hare-brain'd Notions, and I thought no more of being ſerious in them, than I thought of being a Man in the Moon: […]
What part of speech is man in the moon?
Man in the moon is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce man in the moon?
Man in the moon is pronounced /ˌmæn ɪn ðə ˈmuːn/ (UK).

Words near man in the moon in the dictionary

  1. man hunt
  2. man in black
  3. man in motion
  4. man in the middle
  5. man in the mirror
  6. man in the moon
  7. man in the street
  8. man in white
  9. man is a wolf to man
  10. man is the measure of all things
  11. man it out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: man in the moon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-man in the moon.wav.

Cite this entry: “man in the moon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/man_in_the_moon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.