as in silly
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
dotty relatives that we have to endure only on Thanksgiving
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Recent Examples of dotty
People wanted to wear clothes at the cutting edge, which gave dotty fabrics woven by machine a natural fanbase among the society ladies who could afford them.
—
Natalie Hammond, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2025
Jones, Redgrave, and an unrecognizable Margot Kidder as their dotty landlady bravely expose their vulnerability.
—Armond White, National Review, 25 June 2025
This set by Studio Bloom takes two breakout shades of the year — butter yellow and mocha mousse — and elevates them for the season ahead with a dotty design.
—Mica Ricketts, Refinery29, 9 May 2025
Now, one of the largest celebrations of Kusama’s dotty world will debut at Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
—Mae Hamilton, Travel + Leisure, 9 Dec. 2024
Joanne and Morgan’s dotty mother, Lynn (Stephanie Faracy), dabbles in the metaphysical to constant mockery; their gay father, Henry (Michael Hitchcock), is rarely able to enjoy his own happiness.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2024
Smith starred as Joyce Chilvers, a small-town social climber in postwar Northern England whose hunger to be accepted by the elite locals isn’t helped by her dotty mother nor her underachieving podiatrist husband Gilbert, played by Michael Palin.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Sep. 2024
To play Sam’s dotty grandparents in Sixteen Candles, Hughes tapped a quartet of veteran character actors.
—John Russell, Peoplemag, 4 May 2024
Natalie Hammond, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2025
Jones, Redgrave, and an unrecognizable Margot Kidder as their dotty landlady bravely expose their vulnerability.
—Armond White, National Review, 25 June 2025
This set by Studio Bloom takes two breakout shades of the year — butter yellow and mocha mousse — and elevates them for the season ahead with a dotty design.
—Mica Ricketts, Refinery29, 9 May 2025
Now, one of the largest celebrations of Kusama’s dotty world will debut at Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
—Mae Hamilton, Travel + Leisure, 9 Dec. 2024
Joanne and Morgan’s dotty mother, Lynn (Stephanie Faracy), dabbles in the metaphysical to constant mockery; their gay father, Henry (Michael Hitchcock), is rarely able to enjoy his own happiness.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2024
Smith starred as Joyce Chilvers, a small-town social climber in postwar Northern England whose hunger to be accepted by the elite locals isn’t helped by her dotty mother nor her underachieving podiatrist husband Gilbert, played by Michael Palin.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Sep. 2024
To play Sam’s dotty grandparents in Sixteen Candles, Hughes tapped a quartet of veteran character actors.
—John Russell, Peoplemag, 4 May 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dotty
Adjective
-
This struck many experts as silly.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
-
Frequent co-stars Johnson and Hart, known for their hilarious chemistry, have played Rock, Paper, Scissors and other silly games in promos for their movies, especially their Jumanji films.—
Antonia Blyth,
Deadline,
11 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
For a free-market type, Magness implies here that markets are quite stupid.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
18 Jan. 2026
-
Protecting his naive and stupid friend.—
Gwen Faulkenberry,
Arkansas Online,
18 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
House’s agenda is to get Cooper to reveal himself as secretly working against Vault-Tec for resistance leader Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury), but Cooper isn’t that foolish.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
14 Jan. 2026
-
The Giants would be foolish to pay Harbaugh a ton of money and then not take full advantage of his expertise in the science of winning.—
Ian O'Connor,
New York Times,
13 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
And everyone is mad at Andrew—though this one feels like a rumor and more reality.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
7 Jan. 2026
-
He’s been thrown straight into a mad month, in which Chelsea have Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League fixtures.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Code Pink is a bunch of insane radicals and someone could have gotten hurt.—
Joey Nolfi,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Jan. 2026
-
At 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds, Keira is the first to admit she’s not blessed with insane athletic ability.—
Don Norcross,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
12 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
After the first Roundtable, Survivor stalwart Rob Cesternino — perhaps clued in by Candiace’s absurd conga line ploy to get people out of the kitchen — sniffed out that a murder in plain sight could be happening.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Contrary to what many may think, the researchers found no correlation between a person’s level of education and their capacity to believe in absurd conspiracies.—
Joe Wilkins Published Jan 8,
Futurism,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
So that fundamental feeling of powerlessness in the face of larger, ominous and obscure forces doesn’t feel very crazy or conspiratorial to me.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Jan. 2026
-
Drinkers sometimes complained that wines tasted weird and crazy, not just wild, and inconsistent from bottle to bottle.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
13 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Anything else would be idiotic.—
Josh Yohe,
New York Times,
13 Jan. 2026
-
To do a lot less foolish, thoughtless, stupid, idiotic things.—
Gwen Faulkenberry,
Arkansas Online,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dotty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dotty. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
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