screwball
Americannoun
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Slang. an eccentric or irrational person; a nut.
When the FBI first looked into him, they thought he was a harmless screwball.
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Baseball. a pitched ball that curves toward the side of the plate from which it was thrown, in a trajectory opposite to that of a curve ball.
Has the once popular screwball vanished completely from the major leagues?
adjective
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of screwball
First recorded in 1865–70; in 1935–40 screwball for def. 2; screw + ball 1
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.
Swift triumphantly waved to the crowd alongside Screwball, his “R” cap askew and appropriately signature red tongue draped past his chin.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 9, 2024
Screwball barbs come off as hostile jabs because Cruise doesn’t connect with the other actors on screen; they might as well have been dropped in via green screen.
From Slate • Jun. 8, 2017
The American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre in Santa Monica is ringing in the new year with its annual "Screwball Comedy Classics 2016."
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2016
They’re an odd couple too for a dual biography of the kind Marion Meade delivers with “Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney.”
From New York Times • Mar. 18, 2010
He tagged along and we wound up on a bench at Screwball Square.
From The Altar at Midnight by Ashman, William
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.
