funny
1 Americanadjective
-
funnier,
comparative
-
funniest
superlative
-
providing fun; causing amusement or laughter; amusing; comical.
a funny remark;
a funny person.
-
attempting to amuse; facetious.
Did you really mean that or were you just being funny?
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warranting suspicion; deceitful; underhanded.
We thought there was something funny about those extra charges.
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Informal. insolent; impertinent.
Don't get funny with me, young man!
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curious; strange; peculiar; odd.
Her speech has a funny twang.
noun
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funnies
plural
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Informal. a funny remark or story; a joke.
to make a funny.
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funnies,
-
Also called funny paper. the section of a newspaper reserved for comic strips, word games, etc.
noun
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funnies
plural
adjective
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causing amusement or laughter; humorous; comical
-
peculiar; odd
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suspicious or dubious (esp in the phrase funny business )
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informal faint or ill
to feel funny
noun
Usage
What is a basic definition of funny? Funny describes something that causes fun, especially laughter. Funny can describe someone who is trying to amuse others. It can also describe someone or something that is suspicious or odd. Funny has a few other senses as an adjective and a noun. Funny describes something that is amusing and causes people to laugh. Something that amuses people without causing laughter is usually said to be fun rather than funny. For example, a roller coaster would be called fun, while a knock-knock joke would be called funny. If something is not funny, it is unfunny. Real-life examples: Many people consider clowns, jokes, comedies, pranks, and Internet memes to be funny. These things cause most people to laugh. Used in a sentence: The comedian knew a lot of funny jokes. Funny also describes someone who is trying to get others to laugh or is trying to amuse them. This sense of funny is a synonym of facetious. Used in a sentence: Joan took the comment as an insult even though Luke was just trying to be funny. Funny also describes someone or something that is suspicious or underhanded. You might use this sense when you think something dishonest is going on. The phrase funny business is used in this sense to refer to criminal or unethical activity. Real-life examples: Rigged carnival games, overly friendly salespeople, and deals that seem too good to be true often cause people to think something funny is going on. Used in a sentence: We think something funny is going on at that store on the corner that is never open. Funny can also describe something that is strange, odd, or curious. Real-life examples: If your leg falls asleep, you will probably walk funny. Two tomatoes that grow together to make one tomato might have a funny shape. Used in a sentence: I think the speakers might be broken because the music sounds funny.
Synonym Usage
Funny, laughable, ludicrous refer to that which excites laughter. Funny and laughable are both applied to that which provokes laughter or deserves to be laughed at; funny is a colloquial term loosely applied and in popular use is commonly interchangeable with the other terms: a funny story, scene, joke; a laughable incident, mistake. That which is ludicrous excites laughter by its incongruity and foolish absurdity: The monkey's attempts to imitate the woman were ludicrous.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of funny1
First recorded in 1730–40; fun + -y 1
Origin of funny2
First recorded in 1780–90; perhaps jocular use of funny 1
Explanation
Something that is funny is amusing or comical. Comedians make their living being funny. It seems like the adjective funny should describe something fun — but it doesn’t always. A fun rollercoaster ride might make you scream instead of laugh. In fact, funny is also used in the sense of something that is fishy or shady, or just a little odd, like a funny feeling, or a person who seems a little funny, meaning weird. So if someone calls you funny, make sure they are smiling before you thank them for the compliment.
Vocabulary lists containing funny
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As Ms. Koul notes, it never had a chance to be funny.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
He plays us Soulmate, a funny and affectionate tribute to Amy, powered by a peacocking guitar riff.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
I was selling life insurance and annuities in New York, and I was writing funny emails to friends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
The funny thing is, when Warner Bros. made Coyote vs.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
Grown-ups were always laughing at things that Bat didn’t think were funny, but it didn’t bother Bat very much when Mr. Grayson did it.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
Did these two never read the funnies growing up?
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2024
“She gives me the funnies from her paper every Sunday,” said front desk clerk Teina Tahauri.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
The funnies included Orion’s star trackers being momentarily confused when the spacecraft’s thrusters fired.
From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2022
It’s a little like TikTok but specifically for Netflix funnies.
From The Verge ● Oct. 4, 2021
But now we were having to save the funnies indefinitely, and sometimes the newspaper got taken to start a fire with before I could tear out the page.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
The biggest hits sand down the rough-hewn edges of Mama’s metaphorical front porch to up their resale value, perhaps never funnier than Luke Bryan’s bullet-point summer vacation on “Fish, Hunt, Golf, Drink.”
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
And is funnier than any of its relatives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
He thinks the pre-taped sketches have been funnier than the live ones for the most part but says Weekend Update has been consistently strong.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
Let’s turn to Justice Samuel Alito, whose dissent is slightly less crazy but way funnier because he’s big mad.
From Slate ● May 15, 2026
Roy found this funnier than Obinze thought it was.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
And one of Slate’s funniest writers, Christina Cauterucci, took a deep dive into the weirdly knife-heavy videos the Trump administration has been posting on TikTok, so you don’t have to.
From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026
He did this by causing one of the weirdest and funniest political scandals of the modern era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Defector deputy editor Barry Petchesky may have had the funniest observation of all.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Freeman said: "I've never laughed that much at work, before or since. It's easily the funniest time I've ever had."
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
We became good buddies in a speakeasy where later on I was a waiter; Chicago Red was the funniest dishwasher on this earth.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
