scatterbrain

noun

ˈska-tər-ˌbrān How to pronounce scatterbrain (audio)
Definition of scatterbrainnext
as in ditz
a silly flighty person don't be such a scatterbrain—it's only a wedding, not the invasion of Normandy

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for scatterbrain
  1. ditz
  2. fool
  3. flibbertigibbet
  4. silly
  5. goose
  6. cuckoo
Noun
  • There’s a tramp, a ditz, a bad boss, a hippie, a by-the-book good girl.
    — Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Rather than stay pigeonholed as a ditz, Simpson (who just released new music for the first time in 15 years) went on to launch her own fashion brand, which hit $1 billion in sales in 2015 and is still going strong today.
    — EW Staff, EW.com, 20 Mar. 2025
Definition of ditz
Noun
  • Don’t let the building’s modern facade fool you, the rooms are minimalist yet warm with wood flooring, floral wallpaper, and hand-knotted rugs.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Oct. 2026
  • In these labors, Carson is akin to two other recent laureates, Jon Fosse and László Krasznahorkai, our foremost writers of holy fools.
    — Merve Emre, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of fool
Noun
  • Winnie, on the other hand, is a flibbertigibbet of stream-of-consciousness.
    — Han Ong, New Yorker, 22 June 2025
  • Projects about Monroe have handled her personal life to varying degrees of success, often leaning into her flibbertigibbet persona, her struggles with addiction, and the paradox of her oozing sexuality and her little girl brokenness.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 24 Jan. 2023
Definition of flibbertigibbet
Noun
  • Her new book is a similar mash-up of the silly and the somber.
    — Lisa Hanawalt, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
  • It was shot in portrait because it was shot in Instagram by and for a woman who was losing her mind in quarantine and had fully let the sillies take the wheel.
    — Ego Nwodim, TIME, 12 Feb. 2025
Definition of silly
Noun
  • In short, the encyclopedia is being destroyed by its biggest beneficiaries, like a golden goose slaughtered for slop-pâté.
    — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Ternus’ interaction with IShowSpeed is clearly designed to capture this (and, of course, to goose preorder numbers among the influencer’s young and massive audience).
    — Andrew R. Chow, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of goose
Noun
  • This was not the case for one—an egregious offering that dwarfed all the others, like a cuckoo in a wren’s nest.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
  • But a cuckoo premise isn’t enough to hang a film on, apparently.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of cuckoo
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

scatter
scatterbrain
scatterbrained
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Cite this Entry

“Scatterbrain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scatterbrain. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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