buggy

¹ American  

[buhg-ee] / ˈbʌg i /

adjective

buggier, buggiest

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.

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buggy ² American  

[buhg-ee] / ˈbʌg i /

noun

• buggies
  plural

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.

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.

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buggy ¹ British  

/ 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. short for beach buggy

3. short for Baby Buggy See baby carriage

4. a small motorized vehicle designed for a particular purpose

   golf buggy

   moon buggy

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buggy ² British  

/ ˈbʌɡɪ /

adjective

1. infested with bugs

2. slang insane

3. informal (of a system or machine, esp a computer program) containing errors or faults

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Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bugginess
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• buggies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of buggy¹

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

Origin of buggy²

First recorded in 1750–60; of obscure origin

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Explanation

A buggy is a cart with wheels that's pulled by a horse. In the 19th century, the most popular way to take short trips was in a horse and buggy. Most people think of a horse pulling a carriage when they hear the word buggy, although you can use the term for other small vehicles, whether they're electric or powered by gasoline — like a golf buggy. If you use buggy to describe a camp site, however, you mean it's infested with insects. The origins of both meanings are uncertain, although the Middle English bugge, "something frightening" might be one root of the "full of bugs" definition.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

buggy buggies buggier buggiest

The design-integrated buggy bumpers could suggest a way forward.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

Rejecting AI is like picking a horse and buggy over a car, said “Star Wars” creator George Lucas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

When he jumped back on the buggy back to the clubhouse area, dozens of journalists had gathered to wait for the chance to ask DeChambeau questions.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Thomas and two others took "the walking wounded" to get help in their farm buggy.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

He ran through all the polar bear facts he’d memorized for the tundra buggy tour, but none of them helped here.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Parents push buggies through quiet leafy side streets of this popular neighbourhood that is also within easy reach of central London.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

“At the turn of the 20th century, people were still in horses and buggies … they didn’t likely envision that there’d be an automobile to replace a buggy. But that’s what happened,” Cohen said.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026

To the south lie the Bureau of Land Management’s Imperial Sand Dunes, where dune buggies and motorcycles trace arcs across bare slopes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026

Had he played by the rules, though, maybe we’d still be riding horses and buggies to the West.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025

For months at a time, James entertained these pale creatures, their white buggies traversing the mud tracks that led to the great house.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Because the app would not be publicly available anymore, new updates could no longer be delivered to users in the US - which would make the app buggier and, eventually, unusable.

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2025

Most people assume that a warmer planet will be a buggier, more parasite- and disease-ridden place.

From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2023

We will just have a much worse, much buggier Instagram on our hands.

From The Verge ● Aug. 20, 2022

Men assume that if their wives don’t love them enough, it must be because they are buggier than a flophouse blanket.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2018

And it’s partly that Siri itself often seemed even buggier and laggier on the Watch than it is on the iPhone.

From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2017

Armed with the information in the April 18 news article “Answers to the buggiest questions on Brood X cicadas,” I feel prepared to deal with the upcoming invasion.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 23, 2021

That officially makes iOS 8, thus far, the buggiest iOS yet.

From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2014

Just two years ago, nearly half of the folks online used Internet Explorer 6.0—the slowest, buggiest, most security-flawed browser on the market.

From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2010

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