adjective
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tending to curl; curling
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having curls
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(of timber) having irregular curves or waves in the grain
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difficult to counter or answer
a curly question
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of curly
Explanation
Something that's curly is wavy, coiled, or spiral-shaped. While you might envy your friend's straight, shiny hair, she may be equally envious of your wild, curly hair. You can add curly ribbons to a plain package to dress it up, or buy kale in different varieties, including one with curly leaves. You're most likely to use the adjective curly, however, to describe someone's hair, if it falls in ringlets. Curly comes from curl, which was originally crulle, probably from the Middle Dutch word krul, "curly."
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:
For their study, the scientists at King's College London analysed 12 raw or uncooked fresh foods - beetroot, bell pepper, broccoli, butternut squash, cauliflower, celeriac, curly kale, fennel, kiwi fruit, leek, pineapple and watermelon.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
The ampersand, meanwhile, evolved over time from a jagged bit of Roman graffiti into the curly charmer we know today.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
After her cancer went into remission, she wanted to restore her long curly hair and began taking biotin supplements after reading about them online.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2026
A young Michaels, with thick black curly hair and the same distinctive voice, broadcast from the track and touched on the interesting elements of Shoemaker’s presence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
Chip’s curly hair was mashed down because he kept clutching his head, like he had to work hard to hold himself together.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The researchers found that the animals had longer, curlier hair, but no evidence that the mammoth's fat-increasing gene had an effect.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2025
The less evenly distributed the squiggly proteins are, the curlier the hair.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 16, 2023
“It’s curlier and frizzier and I love it,” Kouatchou said.
From Reuters ● Oct. 24, 2021
The book is full of bittersweet drawings of Marji’s tête-à-têtes with God, who resembles Marx, ‘though Marx’s hair was a bit curlier.’
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
The long, lonesome hair on Miss Hennepin’s upper lip was even curlier and shinier than the last time Roy had seen her.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
I don’t recall which of my appeals drew Todbaum’s curliest scorn, only that it got pretty curly.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 25, 2019
Limping, hobbling, they tussled until nightfall, when the Navy goat had to admit that the absence of Shapely, one of its curliest horns, was too great a handicap.
From Time Magazine Archive
Big nose and big ears and the curliest hair at the fair.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
He was simply the curliest darling, clad in a garment of many colors made of strange remnants and sewed by hands doubtless acquainted with a sailor's palm but unfamiliar with ordinary stitching.
From Sweetapple Cove by George Van Schaick
Is it pretty!" he ejaculated, lifting it with both hands, and bathing his face in it; "the brightest, brownest, curliest, softest, sweetest hair on earth!
From The Beth Book Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius by Sarah Grand
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
