filmy
Americanadjective
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thin and light; fine and gauzy.
a gown of a filmy material.
-
hazy or misty; glazed.
filmy eyes.
adjective
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composed of or resembling film; transparent or gauzy
-
covered with or as if with a film; hazy; blurred
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of filmy
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."
Vocabulary lists containing filmy
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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.
See Examples For:
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
It reveals mostly close-ups of the singers, often as filmy cameos like you might see in old silents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2024
He opened the doors, letting the filmy white curtains flutter out into the afternoon.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
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
Above these they could see a range of sharp-peaked mountains that still caught the sunlight, some crystal white with snow, others muffled by clouds turned to iris-hued scarfs of filmiest gauze.
From Ewing\'s Lady by Harry Leon Wilson
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 Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
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
But this is the way of Love; its filmiest threads easily spin themselves further; and a man once entangled is bound by that unseen chain which links the soul to its destiny.
From The Maid of Maiden Lane by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
