zany
Americanadjective
-
zanier,
comparative
-
zaniest
superlative
noun
-
zanies
plural
adjective
noun
-
a clown or buffoon, esp one in old comedies who imitated other performers with ludicrous effect
-
a ludicrous or foolish person
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of zany
1560–70; (< Middle French ) < Italian zan ( n ) i (later zanno ) a servant character in the commedia dell’arte, perhaps originally the character's name, the Upper Italian form of Tuscan Gianni, for Giovanni John
Explanation
If you've been called zany, you are goofy, wacky, and clownish. Zany describes very silly people and behaviors. If you break into a bad, old-guy imitation of hip-hop, you might be trying too hard to be zany. There's an old character in comedies from the 15th through the 19th centuries who always had the Italian name Gianni, or Giovanni, another form of which was "Zanni" — from which we get the adjective zany. Just as there are good clowns and kind of scary, weird clowns, zany describes both truly funny and laughable people and things, as well as foolish, or ludicrous, attempts at being funny. Something zany makes people laugh, unless it's weird zany and just makes them cringe.
Vocabulary lists containing zany
100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Maniac Magee
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Ad Power," "Without Commercials," and "What's Wrong with Advertising"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
“It was a weird movie that felt lost, especially when it stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins being zany in a way they don’t often get to be,” he says by phone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
In our current everyone-with-a-phone-is-a-critic culture, this may sound like a particular flavor of zany.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Eschewing staid quarterly earnings presentations, he used to deliver zany slideshows that proclaimed the information revolution would bring “happiness for everyone.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie and Taylour Paige play shoplifters undermining the powers that be in a zany, visually uninhibited comedy written and directed by Boots Riley.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
And just like that, as he stared at them, the idea came, an idea as zany as they were.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
Hoping to sink the father’s chances, Al saddles LeBron with the beloved zanies Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester et al.
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2021
Missing were the usual cast of zanies dressed in wedding gowns and super hero costumes jostling with the beat writers to get their questions heard.
From Reuters ● Jan. 27, 2020
But, hunting among the zeds, I decided to write about "zanies" in the sense of clowns, fools and comics.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2012
McDonagh's zanies are grotesques devoid of decency or basic deductive skills.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2010
When the parson bluntly demanded this of us, we stood staring open-mouthed at one another, a pair of zanies.
From The Wayfarers by J. C. Snaith
“Hoppers” features zanier cartoon comedy and less tear-inducing pathos than audiences may expect from the studio behind “Up.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
The last time Salon cracked wise at the offerings listed among Oprah’s Favorite Things or the zanier items in Goop’s holiday gift guide was in 2019.
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2023
It’s essentially “E.T.” with a sloppier, zanier touch, and it’s set in urban Vietnam as opposed to a sleepy California neighborhood.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2022
In truth, I wish “Mario Golf: Super Rush” was a bit zanier.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 2, 2021
The best material is darker, zanier and lands in unexpected places.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2016
I’d also be lying if I said that was the only reason my husband and I share our lives with two of nature’s zaniest comics instead of a herd of small humans.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2024
Even the zaniest comedy needs to take its premise seriously in order to work.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2023
“It could win best picture and it’s the zaniest idea out there,” Lord says.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2023
Imagine you’re a kid again and given an unlimited budget to build and race the zaniest Hot Wheels track you could possibly imagine.
From The Verge ● Dec. 27, 2021
Sunday, in a 37-31 victory over the Eagles, Flores unveiled perhaps the coolest, zaniest play of the season.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2019
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
