as in conservative
a person with old-fashioned ideas
a fuddy-duddy who thought that anyone too young to vote shouldn't be out past 8:00 p.m.
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in stodgy
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Recent Examples of fuddy-duddy
William Earl, Variety, 30 Nov. 2025
Her characters were women whose roles often implied their own eventual replacements: teachers, fading former love interests, fuddy-duddy old-fashioned relics.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024
The good news is that for every fuddy-duddy like myself who can’t seem to get on board with crowdfunding kids’ lives, there are twice as many generous, kind-hearted individuals willing to give a little—or a lot—toward schools, sports, and charities.
—Melissa Willets, Parents, 3 Feb. 2024
Another group of screenwriters have mocked Ms. Lombardini online as a fuddy-duddy who hangs out at chain restaurants, the taunt being that no Hollywood person would be caught dead in one.
—John Koblin, New York Times, 28 Aug. 2023
Noun
For someone who’s constantly on speakerphone, Tommy sure is a fuddy-duddy about using it correctly.
—William Earl, Variety, 30 Nov. 2025
Her characters were women whose roles often implied their own eventual replacements: teachers, fading former love interests, fuddy-duddy old-fashioned relics.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024
The good news is that for every fuddy-duddy like myself who can’t seem to get on board with crowdfunding kids’ lives, there are twice as many generous, kind-hearted individuals willing to give a little—or a lot—toward schools, sports, and charities.
—Melissa Willets, Parents, 3 Feb. 2024
Another group of screenwriters have mocked Ms. Lombardini online as a fuddy-duddy who hangs out at chain restaurants, the taunt being that no Hollywood person would be caught dead in one.
—John Koblin, New York Times, 28 Aug. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fuddy-duddy
Noun
-
Cornyn, still the establishment conservative, raised roughly sixty-nine million dollars; Paxton just four million.—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
New Yorker,
4 Mar. 2026
-
On Wednesday, Johnson expressed confidence that Republicans will defeat the House's war powers resolution, despite some reservations expressed by a handful of conservatives.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
4 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Roll the Calls shatters the mold of stodgy CEO memoirs.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
29 Jan. 2026
-
Trump creates fear of a worse outcome (hostile takeover) and the other side (usually stodgy hotel managers) proposes buybacks, joint ventures, special access and the like.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson was again able to negotiate a higher-than-expected return for one of his veterans, the other being a 2028 second-round draft pick for defenseman Connor Murphy.—
Kalen Lumpkins,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Mar. 2026
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A day after landing veteran defenseman Tyler Myers, the Stars added some scoring depth in a deal with Nashville for Michael Bunting.—
SportsDay Staff,
Dallas Morning News,
5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
By stumbling onto the fact that her dowdy biology professor, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy), is a secret mad scientist.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Cher’s memorable transformation from a dowdy Italian widow residing in Brooklyn, NY, stole the movie.—
Tonya Blazio-Licorish,
Footwear News,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Now the 10% is for stubborn old fogies who refuse to change their ways and try something new.—
Chris McKeown,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Old fogey-ish, ungrateful and stupid.—
Katie Hafner,
Scientific American,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The collective dream was for a new, democratic structure that could replace Assad’s ossified legal regime.—
Anand Gopal,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
-
And he's taken aim at the foreign policy apparatus, describing institutions like the NSC and State Department as having been ossified and out of touch.—
Franco Ordoñez,
NPR,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Bostwick starred as the naive stick-in-the-mud and fiancé of Janice, Brad.—
Skyler Trepel,
PEOPLE,
31 Oct. 2025
-
In the Herbert Ross film, Bacon played big-city teen Ren McCormack, who moves to the small town of Bomont, where its stick-in-the-mud local minster, the Rev. Shaw Moore (John Lithgow), has instituted a ban on dancing.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
9 Nov. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Fuddy-duddy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fuddy-duddy. Accessed 7 Mar. 2026.
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