funny
1 Americanadjective
-
funnier,
comparative
-
funniest
superlative
-
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?
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warranting suspicion; deceitful; underhanded.
We thought there was something funny about those extra charges.
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Informal. insolent; impertinent.
Don't get funny with me, young man!
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curious; strange; peculiar; odd.
Her speech has a funny twang.
noun
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funnies
plural
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Informal. a funny remark or story; a joke.
to make a funny.
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funnies,
-
Also called funny paper. the section of a newspaper reserved for comic strips, word games, etc.
noun
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funnies
plural
adjective
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causing amusement or laughter; humorous; comical
-
peculiar; odd
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suspicious or dubious (esp in the phrase funny business )
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informal faint or ill
to feel funny
noun
Usage
What is a basic definition of funny? Funny describes something that causes fun, especially laughter. Funny can describe someone who is trying to amuse others. It can also describe someone or something that is suspicious or odd. Funny has a few other senses as an adjective and a noun. Funny describes something that is amusing and causes people to laugh. Something that amuses people without causing laughter is usually said to be fun rather than funny. For example, a roller coaster would be called fun, while a knock-knock joke would be called funny. If something is not funny, it is unfunny. Real-life examples: Many people consider clowns, jokes, comedies, pranks, and Internet memes to be funny. These things cause most people to laugh. Used in a sentence: The comedian knew a lot of funny jokes. Funny also describes someone who is trying to get others to laugh or is trying to amuse them. This sense of funny is a synonym of facetious. Used in a sentence: Joan took the comment as an insult even though Luke was just trying to be funny. Funny also describes someone or something that is suspicious or underhanded. You might use this sense when you think something dishonest is going on. The phrase funny business is used in this sense to refer to criminal or unethical activity. Real-life examples: Rigged carnival games, overly friendly salespeople, and deals that seem too good to be true often cause people to think something funny is going on. Used in a sentence: We think something funny is going on at that store on the corner that is never open. Funny can also describe something that is strange, odd, or curious. Real-life examples: If your leg falls asleep, you will probably walk funny. Two tomatoes that grow together to make one tomato might have a funny shape. Used in a sentence: I think the speakers might be broken because the music sounds funny.
Synonym Usage
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 Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of funny1
First recorded in 1730–40; fun + -y 1
Origin of funny2
First recorded in 1780–90; perhaps jocular use of funny 1
Explanation
Something that is funny is amusing or comical. Comedians make their living being funny. It seems like the adjective funny should describe something fun — but it doesn’t always. A fun rollercoaster ride might make you scream instead of laugh. In fact, funny is also used in the sense of something that is fishy or shady, or just a little odd, like a funny feeling, or a person who seems a little funny, meaning weird. So if someone calls you funny, make sure they are smiling before you thank them for the compliment.
Vocabulary lists containing funny
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:
“Nothing fits together,” Alma says at one point, but they do in a funny way—not rationally, but intuitively.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"It's not going to help you. Don't laugh at the joke if you don't think it's funny."
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Humor was a way of surviving that period,” Mungiu recalls, “but it wasn’t funny at all.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
His songs told a story that was either funny or cool.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
We know nothing is funny but need to laugh regardless.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Did these two never read the funnies growing up?
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2024
I always start the day reading the funnies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2022
Most episodes have the same rhythm as the Sunday funnies, with similarly corny punch lines.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2022
It’s a little like TikTok but specifically for Netflix funnies.
From The Verge ● Oct. 4, 2021
But now we were having to save the funnies indefinitely, and sometimes the newspaper got taken to start a fire with before I could tear out the page.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
The biggest hits sand down the rough-hewn edges of Mama’s metaphorical front porch to up their resale value, perhaps never funnier than Luke Bryan’s bullet-point summer vacation on “Fish, Hunt, Golf, Drink.”
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
Here Ms. Howden displays an instinctive wisdom of her own; sometimes, silence is funnier than anything you could say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
An unusually pretty leading man who is quirkier and funnier than he looks, Galitzine is the kind of rising talent Hollywood rarely knows how to handle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
He thinks the pre-taped sketches have been funnier than the live ones for the most part but says Weekend Update has been consistently strong.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
Amil used to be Papa’s favorite, I think because Amil was always louder, happier, and funnier than I am.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
“I just thought that was the funniest thing in the world.”
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
The idea that all of these Clipper-adjacent companies would independently come to the conclusion that they needed to be in the Kawhi business is maybe the funniest part of this entire episode.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Elaine said David "was the cleverest, funniest, loving person"
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
The funniest part of that conversation is when Sam labels Judith a WOACA, a Woman of a Certain Age, pronouncing it as if he were Fozzie Bear punctuating a joke in an old-timey stand-up set.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
A little black dog with the funniest gray beard and eyebrows rushes at my knees, barking and bouncing.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
Definitions 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.
