as in silly
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
she's always off on some screwball plan
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
a screwball who liked to save lint and bits of string
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of screwball
New York Times, 9 Feb. 2026
The best of all sports-movie subgenres, football films have given us great characters – real and fictional – and a bunch of awesome cinematic moments in everything from screwball comedies to real-life narratives.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 6 Feb. 2026
Greg Evans, Deadline, 23 Jan. 2026
Over the course of the novel, each Flynn girl is suspended from school at least once for some screwball infraction, including spreading conspiratorial theories about covert surveillance operations in town, punching another kid in the face, and preparing to commit an act of domestic terrorism.
—Hannah Gold, New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Adjective
What is Valentine’s Day without a fizzy screwball comedy?
—New York Times, 9 Feb. 2026
The best of all sports-movie subgenres, football films have given us great characters – real and fictional – and a bunch of awesome cinematic moments in everything from screwball comedies to real-life narratives.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 6 Feb. 2026
Noun
Nessa Hyams, a groundbreaking casting director of the New Hollywood whose work on such 1970s masterpieces as Peter Bogdanovich’s screwball comedy What’s Up, Doc?, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist and Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, died January 9 at her home in Manhattan.
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 23 Jan. 2026
Over the course of the novel, each Flynn girl is suspended from school at least once for some screwball infraction, including spreading conspiratorial theories about covert surveillance operations in town, punching another kid in the face, and preparing to commit an act of domestic terrorism.
—Hannah Gold, New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for screwball
Adjective
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How could something that started off so silly suddenly turn harrowingly lethal?—
Chris O'Falt,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Crowds of bird fans carrying smartphones and cameras are craning daily for a look at its silly walk, while mostly maintaining a respectful distance.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In 2015, Robert Durst, a wealthy eccentric linked to two killings and his wife’s disappearance, was arrested by the FBI in New Orleans on a murder warrant a day before HBO aired the final episode of a serial documentary about his life.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Feb. 2026
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On her trail are a Báthory relative who is vegetarian (Thomas Schubert), his psychotherapist (Lars Eidinger), two vampirologists, a police inspector and a gallery of eccentrics.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The tongue-in-cheek and gleefully gory remake of a 1980s action fantasy is here for those needing some absurd escapism.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
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That push-and-pull is central to the show, which balances absurd, high-concept comedy with sharp emotional stakes.—
Sarah Rodman,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Wonderlab’s focus will be creating wildly fun, commercial, character-driven, genre-bending films.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
9 Apr. 2026
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The show jumps forward five years for its latest iteration, with the characters confronting adult (in every sense of the word) issues in their lives.—
Shirley Halperin,
Rolling Stone,
9 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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That, and [making] stupid pictures of my friends.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Apr. 2026
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But most players aren’t stupid.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The first of these—a cult favorite among writers, particularly youngish women writers—put Lemann on the map as a singular stylist, capable of crystalline insights into the miscreants and oddballs of the American South and great bursts of unrestrained sentiment.—
Brandy Jensen,
New Yorker,
8 Apr. 2026
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Megan Lilly Wilding’s Nova might have been a single-scene oddball in a different show but here develops into a shrewd, tenacious partner in Joyce’s investigation.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
11 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Do me a favor, call up that agent that was foolish enough to shoehorn you into this business and this show and tell him to lower the ticket prices.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
7 Apr. 2026
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Arsenal would be foolish to write off a player in this kind of form, with this kind of confidence, and gripped by the kind of never-say-die attitude that has characterised a dramatic career.—
Thom Harris,
New York Times,
7 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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And leading the country is a megalomaniac — Anthony Starr’s always riveting Homelander — who might be going insane.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Apr. 2026
-
By any normal corporate logic, this was an insane thing to promise.—
Ronan Farrow,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Screwball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/screwball. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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