giddy
Americanadjective
-
affected with vertigo; dizzy.
- Synonyms:
- vertiginous, lightheaded
-
attended with or causing dizziness.
a giddy climb.
-
frivolous and lighthearted; flighty.
a giddy young person.
- Synonyms:
- vacillating, inconstant, fickle, mercurial, volatile, unstable
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
-
affected with a reeling sensation and feeling as if about to fall; dizzy
-
causing or tending to cause vertigo
-
impulsive; scatterbrained
-
an exclamation of surprise
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
has giddiedperfect 3rd person singular
-
have giddiedperfect
-
have been giddyingperfect progressive
-
has been giddyingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
-
are giddyingprogressive
-
am giddyingprogressive 1st person singular
-
giddiessingular 3rd person
-
is giddyingprogressive 3rd person singular
-
giddyingparticiple
Past
-
had giddiedperfect
-
were giddyingprogressive plural
-
had been giddyingperfect progressive
-
was giddyingprogressive singular
-
giddiedsimple
-
giddiedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of giddy
First recorded before 1000; Middle English gidy, Old English gidig “mad,” variant of gydig (unrecorded), derivative of god God, presumably originally “possessed by a divine being”
Explanation
If you've ever spun in circles until you fell to the ground laughing, you know how it feels to be giddy. This adjective can mean dizzy, elated, or — as in the spinning around example — a lightheaded, lighthearted combination of the two. The hackneyed phrase "giddy as a schoolgirl" calls forth the image of a kid giggling with her friends over some adolescent foolishness. Giddy has been used to describe someone incapable of serious thought or easily excited as far back as the 16th century. Given that, in modern usage, giddy describes someone silly and frivolous, it's interesting to know that the Old English source for this word has a slightly darker tinge: gidig means "insane" or "god-possessed."
Vocabulary lists containing giddy
Grade 9, List 6
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Inside Out & Back Again
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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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.
Reynoso said the betting "stimulates many senses" for the animals on top of providing entertainment for an audience giddy with excitement ahead of the world's biggest football bonanza.
From Barron's • Jun. 6, 2026
The mix of worlds is giddy, begging for splendor.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
His performance of the track marked the giddy peak of the Super Bowl halftime show last year for more than 133 million viewers.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026
Bush pushed the idea during a brief, giddy window between the financial crisis of 2000-’03 and the one of 2007-’09.
From MarketWatch • May 13, 2026
Its plastic wheels scrape the concrete, and the sound makes me giddy.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
