cozy
Americanadjective
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comfortable and snug.
We live in a cozy little house with a small garden in the back.
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convenient or beneficial, usually as a result of dishonesty or connivance.
A very cozy agreement between competing firms had kept the industry profitable for years.
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suggesting opportunistic or conspiratorial intimacy.
The exposé revealed a cozy relationship between lobbyists and some politicians.
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discreetly reticent or noncommittal.
The administrators are remaining cozy about which policy they plan to adopt.
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relating to a genre of mystery stories with little suspense, explicit violence, or sexual content, often also having amateur sleuths and idyllic, intimate settings.
I read lots of different books, but I like cozy mysteries best.
Charming characters and just the right amount of danger make this cozy series a delight to read.
noun
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a padded covering for a teapot or coffeepot to retain the heat of the contents.
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a mystery story with little suspense, explicit violence, or sexual content, often also having amateur sleuths and idyllic, intimate settings.
I started out reading cozies and moved on to the hard-boiled detective novels.
verb (used with object)
verb phrase
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of cozy
First recorded in 1700–10; from Scots colsie, perhaps from Scandinavian; compare Norwegian koselig “cozy,” kose seg “to enjoy oneself”
Explanation
The adjective cozy describes being comfortable and warm, like when you feel cozy curled up on the couch under a soft blanket, in front of a roaring fire. "Isn't this cozy?" If you hear these words, you might be in a friendly, casual place where everyone feels welcome. Or, perhaps you are in a small cabin that is warm and dry as they rain pours down outside. Or you have just stumbled upon the judge of a writing contest having dinner with one of the aspiring novelists — cozy can also mean "scheming." And as a noun? A cozy is a padded cloth used to keep a teapot warm.
Vocabulary lists containing cozy
The Circuit
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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
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Words to Describe Homes
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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.
Cozy food should have a bit of gravity to it.
From Salon • May 12, 2026
Last November, the Newport Harbor Island Resort in Rhode Island debuted a seasonal suite in collaboration with the brand Cozy Earth, with all the bedding, robes and candles available for 20% off.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026
Cozy homes and multimillion-dollar beach palaces that once hugged the coastline — all gone.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2025
Cozy vibes are popular year-round as evidenced by the All Season Blanket selling more than 108,000 items.
From Salon • Dec. 17, 2024
The twins looked at each other and then said together, “The Cozy Table!”
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
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.
