scatty

adjective

scat·​ty ˈska-tē How to pronounce scatty (audio)
scattier; scattiest
1
chiefly British, informal : eccentric, odd
As in Watson's fiction generally, the tone fluctuates from the agreeably scatty to the tiresomely manic.Colin Greenland
2
chiefly British, informal : scatterbrained
She did, however, complete five physics papers and, being scatty, sent them—one after the other—to the wrong email address.Ron Liddle

Examples of scatty in a Sentence

any number of individuals have been fingered as the scatty serial killer known to history as Jack the Ripper
Recent Examples on the Web A lot of her frenetic, scatty energy came from Bronte Carmichael, who was the voice performer for Robin. Leo Barraclough, Variety, 21 Jan. 2024 And Eve’s a bit scatty and all over the place, and Villanelle’s so lush and confident. David Kamp, WSJ, 5 Nov. 2018

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

Word History

Etymology

probably from scatterbrain + -y entry 1

First Known Use

1911, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of scatty was in 1911

Dictionary Entries Near scatty

Cite this Entry

“Scatty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scatty. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!