as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
The neighbors dismissed her as a loony when she painted sheep on her house.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
also looney
as in stupid
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
that's got to be the looniest idea I've ever heard
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of loony
Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2025
Advertisement Here are six movies that advanced the genre in 2024:
(Uncredited / Associated Press)
‘Longlegs’
Osgood Perkins wrote and directed this waking nightmare about Maika Monroe’s psychic FBI agent on the trail of ... if not quite a serial killer, the looniest murder influencer ever.
—Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2024
Love Songs holds the hallmarks of an era of heterodox rap-hook writers, deep YouTube exploration, and DIY mash-ups and blends, but the loonier flips restore the ’89 feeling of wondering whether an exciting piece of collagework will one day be sued out of existence.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Dec. 2024
One of our region's most famous comics, Michael Hawthorne, built a career from illustrating the loony loudmouth.
—Isaac Avilucea, Axios, 18 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for loony
Adjective
As an impressionist, Carvey's style was more, well, impressionist — his gabbling, discursive George H.W. Bush spinning out further and further while remaining resolutely tethered to some measure of loony reality (taking a similar approach for his recent recurring stint as President Joe Biden).
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2025
Advertisement Here are six movies that advanced the genre in 2024:
(Uncredited / Associated Press)
‘Longlegs’
Osgood Perkins wrote and directed this waking nightmare about Maika Monroe’s psychic FBI agent on the trail of ... if not quite a serial killer, the looniest murder influencer ever.
—Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2024
Love Songs holds the hallmarks of an era of heterodox rap-hook writers, deep YouTube exploration, and DIY mash-ups and blends, but the loonier flips restore the ’89 feeling of wondering whether an exciting piece of collagework will one day be sued out of existence.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 Dec. 2024
One of our region's most famous comics, Michael Hawthorne, built a career from illustrating the loony loudmouth.
—Isaac Avilucea, Axios, 18 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for loony
Recent Examples of Synonyms for loony
Noun
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Also, Joan Cusack plays an infamous local eccentric, and a fictional pop star shows up!—
Mary Sollosi,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Dec. 2025
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The logger and railsplitter occasionally encounters American eccentrics, like a chatty drifter prone to sporting bible verses and an old coot of a demolitions expert with a philosophical bent.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
23 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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What gave me the crazy idea to stand at the bar, listening to that woman being praised for her stupid f---ing commitment to New York City and her ugly f---ing buildings?—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
7 Nov. 2025
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Her mechanism for luring victims involves a stick, someone’s hair, her blood, and another person stupid enough to let her through their front door.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Gyles Brandreth, broadcaster, former MP and friend to Christopher Robin Milne, opened up about the man behind the character while chatting with Joe Sibilia on Nostalgia Tonight.—
Angela Andaloro,
PEOPLE,
10 Jan. 2026
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That idea of shiny surfaces is key to Cathy’s character and costumes.—
Radhika Seth,
Vogue,
10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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To say the road to the Super Bowl goes through Jacksonville sounds silly in the NFL’s grand scheme, but for a talented and decorated Bills group that never has won there, that’s the first stop on the quest.—
Tim Graham,
New York Times,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Citing the Monroe Doctrine is silly.—
U T Readers,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
This wacko crew was one of the greatest things in the history of television.—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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His search takes him to a wacko cult in the desert run by a scamster, and that of course puts the sheriff in deadly danger.—
Sandra Dallas,
Denver Post,
6 July 2025
Adjective
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His votes, like his tattoos, just weren’t insane enough anymore.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
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His voice messages of songs are amazing and insane.—
Kristin Robinson,
Billboard,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
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So like Janet Mills, crackpot fellow traveler Jared Golden was getting muscled… from the left.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
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There’s also a subplot involving an elderly cancer patient, a pizza restaurant that doesn’t deliver outside of the city, and a crackpot scheme to move the city-limit sign down the highway so that Clara’s crush can get his grandpa’s favorite pie sent to their home.—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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To do a lot less foolish, thoughtless, stupid, idiotic things.—
Gwen Faulkenberry,
Arkansas Online,
8 Jan. 2026
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No one should be defending activists who engage in the most foolish and dangerous actions!—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Loony.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/loony. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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