as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
just an old codger who never harmed anyone
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Recent Examples of codger
My job was to conceptualize and oversee a luncheon for fifty of these luminaries—with the help of a woozy codger standing in front of me.
—
Literary Hub, 24 Oct. 2025
You meander in, consider the menu for a spell, then place your order — including the sort of beverage those codgers couldn’t imagine.
—Merrill Shindler, Daily News, 21 Aug. 2025
Indeed, exercise is for everyone, from toddlers to codgers.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 23 May 2025
For older codgers like me who prefer golf clubs to nightclubs, a serene and charming alternative is the city of La Quinta, best known for its incomparable golf courses at PGA West and the historic La Quinta Resort & Club, another redolent whiff of Hollywood’s glorious days gone by.
—David Weiss, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
Popular culture’s usual parade of toothless codgers and crones increasingly seemed obsolete.
—Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
Otto is also suicidal — something A Man Called Otto never sufficiently dramatizes, cheapening the codger’s despair as the film prepares for the feel-good ending to come.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 2 Nov. 2024
Most residents can recite Arizona's 5 C's that have long been driven the state economy — copper, citrus, codgers and cactus candy.
—Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 2 June 2024
Literary Hub, 24 Oct. 2025
You meander in, consider the menu for a spell, then place your order — including the sort of beverage those codgers couldn’t imagine.
—Merrill Shindler, Daily News, 21 Aug. 2025
Indeed, exercise is for everyone, from toddlers to codgers.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 23 May 2025
For older codgers like me who prefer golf clubs to nightclubs, a serene and charming alternative is the city of La Quinta, best known for its incomparable golf courses at PGA West and the historic La Quinta Resort & Club, another redolent whiff of Hollywood’s glorious days gone by.
—David Weiss, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
Popular culture’s usual parade of toothless codgers and crones increasingly seemed obsolete.
—Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
Otto is also suicidal — something A Man Called Otto never sufficiently dramatizes, cheapening the codger’s despair as the film prepares for the feel-good ending to come.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 2 Nov. 2024
Most residents can recite Arizona's 5 C's that have long been driven the state economy — copper, citrus, codgers and cactus candy.
—Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 2 June 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for codger
Noun
-
Catherine O’Hara portrayed ridiculous eccentrics with equal parts hilarity and humanity.—
The Week US,
TheWeek,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Greg Brown, the original guitarist and co-founding member of ’90s alt-rock eccentrics Cake, has died.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The renegade baseball general manager in Moneyball, for instance, was later played by Brad Pitt, while the characters in The Big Short were portrayed by Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Pitt again, among others.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
5 Feb. 2026
-
The space’s custom art was created by Amazonian artist Winny Tapajós, portraying a mischievous garden scene full of whimsical characters.—
Devorah Lev-Tov,
Robb Report,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Early locations had a giant clown head popping out of a square box on the roof, based on children’s jack-in-the-box toys, music boxes with cranks that, when turned, cause figures to pop out of their lids.—
Fielding Buck,
Oc Register,
16 Feb. 2026
-
But as with the dismantling of huge swaths of our research capacity, this refusal to even consider this mRNA flu vaccine on what are obviously ideological grounds is going to affect a hell of a lot more people than just the cranks who agree with them.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
There are also expanded indoor and outdoor seating areas at the new store, versus the original at the Town Plaza shopping center, which opened with 19,600 square feet in 2003.—
Howard Cohen,
Miami Herald,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Officials said there was no chain of custody for the materials, agents took originals and didn't retain copies and the ballots shouldn't have been physically removed from Fulton County.—
Irene Wright,
USA Today,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Better for me the nuts-and-bolts march toward expertise.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Feb. 2026
-
DeWitt's go-to options include nuts, Greek yogurt and apple slices with nut butter.—
Deirdre Bardolf,
FOXNews.com,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
O’Hara worked consistently across her 50-year career in both film and television, best known for playing beloved kooks and amiable wackos, though her range was boundless.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Prizes will be available for participants in the categories of individual kook and group costume, judged by a panel composed of race partner Cardiff 101 Mainstreet.—
Karen Billing,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Tress’s approach during this period recalls that of his friend and mentor Duane Michals, another maverick.—
Vince Aletti,
New Yorker,
14 Feb. 2026
-
An exhibition in Beijing delving into anonymity, a key code of the house stemming back to the founder Martin Margiela’s Greta Garbo-like ways — and the face-obscuring masks that have been a feature of the brand since the Belgian maverick arrived on the international fashion scene.—
Miles Socha,
Footwear News,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
There’s a romantic film positively gargantuan in scope that inspired hundreds of thousands of obsessives, but these two films could have aligned in being love stories about complete weirdos.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
12 Feb. 2026
-
Were a bunch of weirdos that do weird pursuits.—
Outside Online,
Outside Online,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Codger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/codger. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
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