funny

[ fuhn-ee ]

/ ˈfʌn i /

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See synonyms for: funny / funnier / funniest / funnies on Thesaurus.com

adjective, fun·ni·er, fun·ni·est.

providing fun; causing amusement or laughter; amusing; comical: a funny remark;a funny person.

attempting to amuse;facetious: Did you really mean that or were you just being funny?

warranting suspicion; deceitful; underhanded: We thought there was something funny about those extra charges.

Informal. insolent; impertinent: Don't get funny with me, young man!

curious; strange; peculiar; odd: Her speech has a funny twang.

noun, plural fun·nies.

Informal. a funny remark or story; a joke: to make a funny.

funnies,

comic strips.
Also called funny paper . the section of a newspaper reserved for comic strips, word games, etc.

OTHER WORDS FOR funny

1 diverting, comic, farcical, ridiculous, droll, witty, facetious, humorous.

See synonyms for funny on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of funny

First recorded in 1730–40; fun + -y¹

synonym study for funny

1. Funny, laughable, ludicrous refer to that which excites laughter. Funny and laughable are both applied to that which provokes laughter or deserves to be laughed at; funny is a colloquial term loosely applied and in popular use is commonly interchangeable with the other terms: a funny story, scene, joke; a laughable incident, mistake. That which is ludicrous excites laughter by its incongruity and foolish absurdity: The monkey's attempts to imitate the woman were ludicrous.

OTHER WORDS FROM funny

fun·ni·ly, adverbfun·ni·ness, nounun·fun·ni·ly, adverbun·fun·ni·ness, noun

Other definitions for funny (2 of 2)

funny²

[ fuhn-ee ]

/ ˈfʌn i /

noun, plural fun·nies.

a shell or light skiff rowed by one person with sculls.

Origin of funny

First recorded in 1780–90; perhaps jocular use of funny¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use funny in a sentence

My mom is silly, but I wouldn’t say she was particularly funny.
How to Suck Less at … Being Funny in the Nude|Eugene Robinson|November 18, 2020|Ozy
Shankar didn’t realize “funny” could be a full-time job until her first year as a premed student at NYU in 2007.
Can a Pun Champ Conquer the Comedy-Writing Scene?|Joshua Eferighe|November 16, 2020|Ozy
In one of the funniest pictures, Lopez Boada’s Salome carries the head of Pavón’s John the Baptist in a flimsy metal broiler pan.
For this artist and his girlfriend, life in lockdown became a creative opportunity|Mark Jenkins|November 12, 2020|Washington Post
Eivor is funny, too, but mostly when she isn’t trying to be.
All the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ games, ranked|Elise Favis, Gene Park|November 11, 2020|Washington Post

Robin Kemp was 12 hours into the longest day of her journalism career when she got a call from a funny number.
Robin Kemp lost her news job in Clayton County, Ga. — but she kept reporting the news. It paid off on election week.|Reis Thebault|November 10, 2020|Washington Post
Funnily enough, he was doing a book tour in Australia when I had been cast, but before I came to the States to make the movie.
The Great Character Actor: Guy Pearce on His Brilliant Career, From ‘Priscilla’ to ‘The Rover’|Richard Porton|May 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But funnily enough, there's obviously a signature—and the collections we make will fit automatically in the total of the rest.
Inside Viktor & Rolf’s Dollhouse|Isabel Wilkinson|June 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He played for the California prep school Harvard-Westlake, where, funnily enough, his backup was the actor Jason Segel.
Meet Jason Collins, the First Gay Athlete in Major American Sports|Kevin Fallon|April 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Number one is arguably the most troubling, but funnily enough, it is mostly taken care of by the coding error.
Did Reinhart and Rogoff Flub a Major Statistic?|Megan McArdle|April 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Someone just tweeted very funnily: When we call Republicans cave men, it's not because we think they'll cave!
Strike Two on the Hastert Rule|Michael Tomasky|January 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST
I never remember stories or anything the right way, my head is so funnily made.
Grandmother Dear|Mrs. Molesworth
Dilys and Lennie and Hetty of course stand up for you hard, and funnily enough so does Leonora.
The Leader of the Lower School|Angela Brazil
"How funnily you express things," she said, half guessing his meaning.
The Salamander|Owen Johnson
They had also about half-a-dozen children; funnily-small dear little creatures these must have been, to be sure.
Musical Myths and Facts, Volume I (of 2)|Carl Engel
The country looked indescribably desolate; but funnily enough there were a lot of birds flying about, mostly in flocks.
Fanny Goes to War|Pat Beauchamp

British Dictionary definitions for funny

funny

/ (ˈfʌnɪ) /

adjective -nier or -niest

causing amusement or laughter; humorous; comical

peculiar; odd

suspicious or dubious (esp in the phrase funny business)

informal faint or illto feel funny

noun plural -nies

informal a joke or witticism

Derived forms of funny

funnily, adverbfunniness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with funny

funny

In addition to the idioms beginning with funny

funny bone
funny business
funny money

, also see under

funny

OTHER WORDS FOR funny

Origin of funny

synonym study for funny

OTHER WORDS FROM funny

Other definitions for funny (2 of 2)

Origin of funny

Words related to funny

How to use funny in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for funny

Derived forms of funny

Other Idioms and Phrases with funny