funny

1 of 2

adjective

fun·​ny ˈfə-nē How to pronounce funny (audio)
funnier; funniest
1
a
: affording light mirth and laughter : amusing
His account of the war came in bits and pieces, sometimes bloody, sometimes funny.Robert Penn Warren
b
: seeking or intended to amuse : facetious
Don't take him so seriously; he was just being funny.
2
: differing from the ordinary in a suspicious, perplexing, quaint, or eccentric way : peculiar
My car has been making a funny noise.
often used as a sentence modifier
Funny, things didn't turn out the way we planned.
3
: involving trickery or deception
told his prisoner not to try anything funny
funnily adverb
funniness noun
funny adverb

funny

2 of 2

noun

plural funnies
1
: one that is funny
especially : joke
2
funnies plural : comic strips or the comic section of a periodical
usually used with the

Examples of funny in a Sentence

Adjective He told a funny story. He's a very funny guy. What are you laughing at? There's nothing funny about it. There's something funny going on here. She has some funny ideas about how to run a company. “I can't find my keys.” “That's funny—they were here a minute ago.” My car has been making a funny noise lately. A funny thing happened to me the other day. It feels funny to be back here again. It's funny that you should say that—I was just thinking the same thing myself. Noun reading the Sunday funnies is part of my weekend ritual let's can the funnies—we've got serious work to do here
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Like its heroine, the comedy can be bright and bouncy and frequently funny. Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Mar. 2024 But Glass herds the tone toward comedy, teasing us to admit that Lou and Jackie’s predicament is funny. Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024 In a funny video shared to TikTok on Thursday (March 7), the 31-year-old singer/actress passed along some advice on how to get over a crush, featuring some moral support from her Only Murders in the Building co-star Steve Martin. Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 7 Mar. 2024 Typos are funny until there’s a class-action lawsuit. Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2024 And somehow, his charming New England suburb’s haughty but well-meaning real estate broker Dell (a genuinely funny Matt Dillon) tolerates this pastime, despite knowing Phil’s financial reality and emotional outbursts that sometimes sabotage his events all too well. Tomris Laffly, Variety, 6 Mar. 2024 Every line is just so funny but yet suffused with all this meaning and weight. Dory Jackson, Peoplemag, 6 Mar. 2024 Both touching and funny, ENGLISH offers a revelatory glimpse into the human desire to belong. The Enquirer, 4 Mar. 2024 What’s funny is when Chris and I started talking about that tour, which was honestly in 2020, there wasn’t really this fervor for nostalgia. Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 26 Feb. 2024
Noun
The Vince Staples Show is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, but there’s a hardness to it — and the series’ protagonist — that feels both unexpected and authentic. Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 15 Feb. 2024 At last year’s inaugural event in Kansas City, the readings ranged from laugh-out-loud funny to heart-rending reports about bullying. Bill Brownlee, Kansas City Star, 30 Jan. 2024 The primary colors of Johns’ target collide with the printing press of the Sunday funnies. Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2023 Hop to the comments to share your Easter funnies. Erin Cavoto, Country Living, 22 Mar. 2023 Many readers found Caity’s self-deprecating tone in the article funny, and others commented that the van life wasn’t supposed to be glamorous. New York Times, 4 May 2022 The voice will be instantly recognizable as Saundersesque to anyone familiar with his fiction: jocular and often stand-up-comic funny, with a focus on providing joyful surprises with every turn of phrase. Lisa Zeidner, Star Tribune, 8 Feb. 2021 This Netflix look at vulgar language, starring Nicolas Cage, is bust-a-gut funny. Willie Brown, SFChronicle.com, 9 Jan. 2021 Anyway, how does a run-through of all these funnies and memes and LOLs and ROFLs out there in the English football world sound? SI.com, 20 Aug. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'funny.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1739, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

1852, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of funny was in 1739

Dictionary Entries Near funny

Cite this Entry

“Funny.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funny. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

funny

1 of 2 adjective
fun·​ny ˈfən-ē How to pronounce funny (audio)
funnier; funniest
1
: causing or intended to cause laughter
a funny story
2
: different from ordinary in a way that is odd, curious, or suspicious
it's funny you should ask
that's funny—they were here yesterday
there's something funny going on
3
: involving trickery
don't try anything funny
funnily adverb
funniness noun
funny adverb

funny

2 of 2 noun
plural funnies
1
: one that is funny
especially : joke entry 1 sense 1
2
plural : comic strips or the comic section of a newspaper
usually used with the

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