buggy

¹

[ buhg-ee ]

adjective

, bug·gi·er, bug·gi·est.

1. infested with bugs:

   We spent one last muggy, buggy summer at the campsite up North, then started vacationing in the Southwest.

2. Computers. (of software) containing errors or imperfections that reduce reliability, performance, or user experience:

   The game’s load times were slow, and the autosave was buggy.

3. Slang. crazy; insane; peculiar.

buggy

²

[ buhg-ee ]

noun

, plural bug·gies.

1. a light, four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage with a single seat and a transverse spring.
2. (in India) a light, two-wheeled carriage with a folding top.
3. baby carriage ( def ).
4. Older Slang. an automobile, especially an old or dilapidated one.
5. a small wagon or truck for transporting heavy materials, as coal in a mine or freshly mixed concrete at a construction site, for short distances.
6. Metallurgy. a car, as for transporting ingots or charges for open-hearth furnaces.
7. any of various small vehicles adapted for use on a given terrain, as on sand beaches or swamps.
8. British. a light, two-wheeled, open carriage.

buggy

¹

/ ˈbʌɡɪ /

noun

1. a light horse-drawn carriage having either four wheels (esp in the US and Canada) or two wheels (esp in Britain and India)
2. See beach buggy
   short for beach buggy
3. See baby carriage, Baby Buggy
   short for Baby Buggy See baby carriage
4. a small motorized vehicle designed for a particular purpose

   moon buggy

   golf buggy

buggy

²

/ ˈbʌɡɪ /

adjective

1. infested with bugs
2. slang.
   insane
3. informal.
   (of a system or machine, esp a computer program) containing errors or faults

Derived Forms

• ˈbugginess, noun

Other Words From

• bug·gi·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of buggy¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; bug ¹ + -y ¹

Origin of buggy²

First recorded in 1750–60; of obscure origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of buggy¹

C18: of unknown origin

Example Sentences

Some last-minute software updates alleviated a number of issues and slowdowns, but it remained a pretty buggy experience overall.

From Time

Its buggy software, dearth of double-screen app support and underwhelming camera will only frustrate people trying to do anything besides write emails and take notes.

From Time

People living in southern Africa around 200,000 years ago not only slept on grass bedding but occasionally burned it, apparently to keep from going buggy.

From Science News

Time for Googlebot to re-crawl the page and then a combination of Google’s cache and a buggy new Search Console to be able to interpret those changes.

From Search Engine Watch

The Galaxy S20 Ultra, aside from its buggy camera, questionable zoom functionality, and eye-watering price point, is a decent smartphone.

From Time

The cars had plush green upholstery and stained-glass windows and were faster and cheaper than a horse-and-buggy.

From The Daily Beast

Ford began tinkering in his garage in Detroit in the 1890s, trains and the horse and buggy was the dominant mode of transport.

From The Daily Beast

But the programs were buggy and often prone to false positives, alerting a network administrator too often to routine behavior.

From The Daily Beast

Some people believe it is only a matter of time until all bookstores go the way of the horse and buggy.

From The Daily Beast

As illustrated in this publication, we have already landed on it and driven across it in a buggy.

From The Daily Beast

Accordingly, she had the boys to hitch a team to a buggy and took him driving over the great estate.

From Project Gutenberg

He had transferred himself to the buggy with a grumble of disgust, and begged her to come for him early in the morning.

From Project Gutenberg

He drives a white mule, and has managed to put a top of sail cloth on an old ramshackle buggy, which he calls a 'shay.'

From Project Gutenberg

Gwynne rang for his guest's buggy, thanked him for his advice; then ordered his horse and rode about the ranch half the night.

From Project Gutenberg

And she carefully gathered up her papers and went to the rescue of the weary Miss Boutts, while Gwynne ordered the buggy.

From Project Gutenberg

More About Buggy

What does buggy mean?

As an adjective, buggy means full of bugs or infested with bugs. This can literally refer to insects, as in a buggy swamp, or it can refer to the kind of bugs found in software or machines—glitches and programming errors.

As a noun, buggy refers to a small, wheeled cart or other vehicle, especially a horse-drawn carriage (often called a horse and buggy). There are several different vehicles that can be called a buggy.

Example: The beta version of the app is a little buggy, so we’ll need to do some additional testing before we release it to the users.

Where does buggy come from?

The first records of buggy as a noun referring to a vehicle come from around 1760. It’s unknown where this word came from. But the origin of the word buggy as an adjective meaning “infested with insects” is very simple: it’s the word bug, meaning “insect,” and the adjective-forming suffix –y, meaning “filled with.” The first records of this use come from around 1700.

Places are called buggy when there’s a lot of insects swarming around. Swamps and marshes are often buggy. The word can also be used to describe an immediate area or environment when there’s a lot of bugs around, as in It’s really humid and buggy outside right now, so let’s stay inside. In both cases, the word usually implies that insects like mosquitoes are flying around and being a nuisance.

The word bug is commonly used to refer to software errors, and describing software as buggy means there’s a lot of errors and things going wrong. Another word for this is glitchy (a synonym of this sense of bug is glitch). You might describe an app as buggy if it keeps crashing or malfunctioning.

When buggy is used as a noun, it can refer to several different kinds of wheeled vehicles. Most commonly it refers to a carriage pulled by a horse. In the United States and Canada, the word buggy typically refers to four-wheeled carriages, while in the U.K. and India it refers to two-wheeled ones. In parts of the U.S. and Canada, people such as the Amish use buggies for transportation. People often use the phrase horse and buggy to refer to the vehicle and the horse or horses that pull it.

Buggy can also refer to a baby carriage (a pram in the U.K.), an industrial cart (such as the kind used to transport mining materials), or a small motorized vehicle (such as dune buggy). In certain parts of the U.S. and Canada, people call a shopping cart a buggy.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to buggy?

• buginess (noun)
• buggier (comparative adjective)
• buggiest (superlative adjective)

What are some synonyms for buggy?

• carriage
• cart
• glitchy

What are some words that share a root or word element with buggy? 

 

• bug

 

What are some words that often get used in discussing buggy?

• software
• app
• error
• horse
• wheeled
• vehicle
• dune
• Amish

How is buggy used in real life?

As an adjective, buggy is an informal but common word that means there’s a lot of bugs—either insects or glitches.

The hardest part of being a software manager is understanding that software takes the time it takes, and rushing it will slow it down and make it buggy.
Patience is everything.

— Eric Elliott (@_ericelliott) November 19, 2019

It’s December, yet in Florida it’s still hot, sticky, humid, buggy, and uncomfortable. Granted, I’m at a zoo rn, but today pretty much eliminates any chance of me moving here in the future. I am NOT built for this weather…

— Steel_General (@steel_general_7) December 28, 2018

Good morning to everyone except people that can't be bothered to walk the extra ten feet to return their buggy to the cart return

— JJ Ross (@JJRossReaders) December 30, 2019

 

 

Try using buggy!

Which of the following terms would NOT be used to describe software that’s considered buggy?

A. glitchy
B. perfect
C. malfunctioning
D. full or errors