wacky

adjective \ ˈwa-kē \

variants: or less commonly whacky

Updated on: 11 Sep 2017

Definition of wacky

wackier also whackier; wackiest also whackiest

:absurdly or amusingly eccentric or irrational :crazy

wacky ideas

a wacky comedian

—

wackily

play \ˈwa-kə-lē\ adverb

—

wackiness

play \ˈwa-kē-nəs\ noun

See wacky defined for English-language learners

See wacky defined for kids

Examples of wacky in a Sentence

My wacky aunt takes a swim before the lake freezes every winter.
the wacky world of his imagination

Recent Examples of wacky from the Web

Ezra calls himself an artist, but his main gig is designing wacky, millennial-friendly marketing campaigns.

— annalee newitz, Ars Technica, "Ingrid Goes West revels in everything wrong with Instagram celebrities," 27 Aug. 2017
The wacky, warped season hatching underneath Padres pitcher Clayton Richard — an uncomfortably historic season, in one glaring way — seems like a classroom exercise designed to test a debate team.

— bryce miller, sandiegouniontribune.com, "'Resilient' Richard punctuates wacky season with shutout," 16 Aug. 2017
And nowhere has this been playing out longer than in the wacky world of flying cars, the subject of this week’s Decrypted podcast.

— alistair barr, Bloomberg.com, "Lessons From the Previous Generation's Flying Car Frenzy," 8 Aug. 2017
Optical illusions, crazy machines, wacky experiments and more.

— luann gibbs, Cincinnati.com, "Free and fun events this weekend: July 21-23," 20 July 2017
Coincidence, more grist for the global warming mill or merely a climatological rarity from the wonderful world of wild wacky weather?

— charles selle, Lake County News-Sun, "Selle: Depths of deluge cause disastrous county flooding," 17 July 2017
Tagged Station North Mini Golf, the course will come complete with hazards, wacky designs and other staples of miniature golf familiar to just about anyone who’s ever vacationed in Ocean City.

— chris kaltenbach, baltimoresun.com, "Mini golf course designed by students opening in Station North," 13 July 2017
But Nacho Vigalondo’s arch, biting film has a lot more on its mind than mere wacky sci-fi.

— joanna robinson, VanityFair.com, "The Best Movies and TV Shows of 2017, So Far," 29 June 2017
Writer/composer Jacob Surovsky, 19, has created a fun, if uneven, score for this wacky hourlong story of four friends fighting off a monster that haunts the halls of their college dormitory.

— pam kragen, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Dispatches from the Fringe Festival: 4 early picks," 25 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wacky.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of wacky

perhaps from English dialect whacky fool

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1935

See Words from the same year

wacky Synonyms

Synonyms

bizarre, bizarro, cranky, crazy, curious, eccentric, erratic, far-out, funky, funny, kinky, kooky (also kookie), offbeat, off-kilter, off-the-wall, outlandish, out-of-the-way, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, queerish, quirky, remarkable, rum [chiefly British], screwy, spaced-out, strange, odd (also whacky), way-out, weird, weirdo, wild

Antonyms

balanced, compos mentis, sane, sound, uncrazy

Near Antonyms

average, commonplace, everyday, garden, normal, ordinary, prosaic, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, typical, unexceptional, unremarkable, usual, workaday; conformist, conservative, conventional; expected, familiar, knee-jerk, predictable; common, customary, frequent, habitual, regular, wonted

WACKY Defined for English Language Learners

wacky

adjective

Definition of wacky for English Language Learners

: amusing and very strange

WACKY Defined for Kids

wacky

adjective \ ˈwa-kē \

variants: also whacky \ˈhwa-kē, ˈwa-\

Definition of wacky for Students

wackier also whackier; wackiest also whackiest

:crazy 2, insane

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See words that rhyme with wacky Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for wacky Nglish: Translation of wacky for Spanish speakers

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Origin and Etymology of wacky

wacky Synonyms

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WACKY Defined for English Language Learners

wacky

Definition of wacky for English Language Learners

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