fishy
Americanadjective
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of, involving, or suggestive of fish
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abounding in fish
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informal suspicious, doubtful, or questionable
their leaving at the same time looked fishy
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dull and lifeless
a fishy look
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fishy
Explanation
Anything fishy smells, tastes, or resembles a fish in some way. Suspicious people and situations are also called fishy. Since this word has two meanings, context is key. If you say something is fishy, it probably means you think something is suspicious. If you’re sitting next to someone eating a tuna sandwich, though, you could just mean you smell a fishy odor. Fishy usually refers to situations that seem suspect or shady. A guy looking over your shoulder while you use an ATM is fishy. A student looking at her arm for answers during a test is fishy. Anything fishy is suspicious — somebody’s up to something.
Vocabulary lists containing fishy
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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Top Ten Relevant Words: Moby Dick, Chapters 1-16
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Mexikid
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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.
Something’s Fishy — the sushi place of yesteryear where my brother worked as a busboy and where sake warmed the soul after a day in the cold Pacific.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 12, 2025
The "Jolene" singer first began making hit songs in 1967 with "Something Fishy" and "Dumb Blonde," People magazine reported.
From Fox News • Dec. 17, 2021
Fishy disaster: A restaurant in Taiwan ran a promotion offering free sushi to anyone who has the characters for “salmon” in their name.
From Slate • Mar. 20, 2021
Later, the Valley Voice posted an article under the headline “Tulare Politics Get Fishy as Hospital Recall Nears.”
From The New Yorker • Feb. 11, 2019
Fishy transactions never do pay, though they always promise to.
From The Rainbow Book Tales of Fun & Fancy by Spielmann, Mabel Henriette
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.
