filmy

American  

[fil-mee] / ˈfɪl mi /

adjective

filmier, filmiest

1. thin and light; fine and gauzy.

   a gown of a filmy material.

2. hazy or misty; glazed.

   filmy eyes.

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filmy British  

/ ˈfɪlmɪ /

adjective

1. composed of or resembling film; transparent or gauzy

2. covered with or as if with a film; hazy; blurred

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Other Word Forms

• filminess
  noun
• filmily
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of filmy

First recorded in 1595–1605; film + -y ¹

Explanation

Something that's filmy is light and translucent. Filmy white curtains are especially pretty when the sun shines through them and they blow in the breeze. The adjective filmy often describes fabric that you can almost see through, like a filmy dress you wear to the prom. A filmy layer of light might rest on the surface of water, and your old dog might have filmy eyes. In all of these examples, the filmy thing is nearly as thin as a film or membrane: the word stems from the Old English filmen, "membrane or thin skin."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

filmy filmier filmiest

Curiously, the style game of Punjabi musicians - from hip-hop, R&B, bhangra pop, fusion, Punjabi rap, reggae or filmy music - has also remained rooted and androgynous, instead of being hyper masculine.

From BBC ● May 31, 2025

Smoke lent artificial darkness and a filmy quality to the light in areas far from the conflagration.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2025

Over and over, in soft-edged blocks layered on filmy backgrounds, he modeled a commitment to abstraction that charged at the hardest questions of life and art through refusal of the easy path.

From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2023

For decades, researchers have assumed that the inevitable filmy buildup on electrodes inside rechargeable batteries is the driver of performance loss.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2023

I looked up at the filmy bags of webworms high above me in the lush canopy of oaks bending over the river.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

The lower sleeves are golden, a line of white at the wrist, and a filmier one within the bodice.

From Holbein by Fortescue, Beatrice

Our normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.

From Time Magazine Archive

Weave, weave, weave,      The tiniest thread will do;      The filmiest thread from a spider's bed      Is stout enough for you.

From Christian's Mistake by Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock

The filmiest wraith of a smile played about the blue lips.

From Success A Novel by Adams, Samuel Hopkins

The walls and floors were made of the sheerest, filmiest spider's-web, woven into a thousand delicate patterns.

From Miss Muffet's Christmas Party by Crothers, Samuel McChord

Distant mountains, with their allurements enhanced by the filmiest of purple veils.

From Mystery Ranch by Chapman, Arthur