hairy
Americanadjective
adjective
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having or covered with hair
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slang
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difficult or problematic
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scaring, dangerous, or exciting
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of hairy
First recorded in 1250–1300, hairy is from the Middle English word heeri. See hair, -y 1
Explanation
Hairy things are furry or fuzzy — covered with hair. If your hairy dog lies on your bed, your bed may end up hairy as well. If your dad has a bushy beard, he has a hairy face, and while some kinds of caterpillars are sleek and smooth, others are hairy. Informally, you can also use hairy to mean "scary." The biggest roller coaster at an amusement park will probably have a few hairy loops and turns. This slang meaning has evolved from its original use as "difficult," dating back to the 1840s.
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:
A clean sheet against Haiti - despite one or two hairy moments - ensured a vital three points in the hunt for knockout football.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
"You can kind of picture them like hairy particles," said Moore.
From Science Daily ● May 30, 2026
Scott: I think it might have been a Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
As the Washington Post reported before the hearing, Mullin has never served in the military, but he has often told stories alluding to being in hairy situations “overseas” while on “special assignments.”
From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2026
“What happened? The last thing I remember is some gigantic animal attacking me! And who’s this?” she asked, nodding at the large, hairy man at her side.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
Bumblebees have much hairier bodies than honeybees, making it easier for dust and airborne particles containing heavy metals to cling to them before being carried back to the nest with pollen.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
Things got even hairier when Usha’s execrable husband, Vice President J.D.
From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2025
Criticism has flooded in, including that engineering mammoth-like creatures is a big stretch from making mice hairier, as well as being unethical, and that the whole project is a publicity stunt.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2025
But, like in the real world, when the human stakes rise to a level where movie ethics are a smaller concern because actual life is on the line, things get hairier.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
A few feet away, another shape, hairier, fled the growing flames.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
The writer-directors are themselves a real-life couple who adopted a child, so ostensibly we’re getting an exaggeratedly autobiographical peek into what self-preservation on the cusp of dadhood looks like at its off-the-charts hairiest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025
She said I was the hairiest thing she had ever seen.
From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2021
On Monday night, the loudest cheers were often reserved for the fluffiest, the hairiest and the cutest of the breed winners.
From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2020
A lumbering, chunky beast clad in a sheep-like coat of hair, it is the hairiest and fattiest of pigs.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 27, 2019
Malik has the hairiest toes, and for the last few weeks, his right big toenail has been all black and blue and yellow because he jammed it doing a backflip.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
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.
