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.

---

filmy British  

/ ˈfɪlmɪ /

adjective

1. composed of or resembling film; transparent or gauzy

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

---

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

Eventually her costume provides those around her with filmy plumes, to no pointed effect.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The only ones I tend to avoid are neutral vegetable oil, which can make the whole thing feel a little filmy, and coconut oil, unless that is a flavor you specifically want to chase.

From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026

Retired high court judge Anjana Prakash told HW news that his comment was “dramatic, filmy and laughable and it had brought down the level of judiciary”.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2024

He also visited a creek near the derailment site, releasing a video in which he used a stick to stir a filmy substance in the water that he described as evidence of possible contamination.

From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2023

The rain had condensed on the windows, covering the cracked windshield like a filmy overlay of lace.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

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

From Holbein by Beatrice Fortescue

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

The filmiest of lace and silken shawls, jeweled slippers, gossamer-gold head dresses, pearls and rubies from India and Persia—all lay in confusion at her hand, and aroused no spark of joy in her breast.

From The Pirate Woman by Aylward Edward Dingle

Science can now educe threads of such exquisite tenuity that only the feet of the tiniest infant-spiders can ascend them; but up the filmiest insubstantiality Shelley runs with agile ease. 

From Shelley; an essay by Francis Thompson

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 Samuel McChord Crothers

Her rose maids of honor, in filmiest laces, Loitered and lingered in shy woodland places; And white-vested lilies were ever at prayer; Their vespers, the perfume that sweetened the air.

From Rosemary and Rue by Amber

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---