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funny1

[fuhn-ee]
See more synonyms for funny on Thesaurus.com
adjective, fun·ni·er, fun·ni·est.
  1. providing fun; causing amusement or laughter; amusing; comical: a funny remark; a funny person.
  2. attempting to amuse; facetious: Did you really mean that or were you just being funny?
  3. warranting suspicion; deceitful; underhanded: We thought there was something funny about those extra charges.
  4. Informal. insolent; impertinent: Don't get funny with me, young man!
  5. curious; strange; peculiar; odd: Her speech has a funny twang.
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noun, plural fun·nies.
  1. Informal. a funny remark or story; a joke: to make a funny.
  2. funnies,
    1. comic strips.
    2. Also called funny paper.the section of a newspaper reserved for comic strips, word games, etc.
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Origin of funny1

First recorded in 1750–60; fun + -y1
Related formsfun·ni·ly, adverbfun·ni·ness, nounun·fun·ni·ly, adverbun·fun·ni·ness, noun

Synonyms

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

funny2

[fuhn-ee]
noun, plural fun·nies.
  1. a shell or light skiff rowed by one person with sculls.
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Origin of funny2

First recorded in 1790–1800; perhaps jocular use of funny1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

whimsicaldrollludicrousplayfulridiculoussillyamusinghilariousentertainingabsurdunusualstrangemysteriouscuriousweirdbizarreriotgaygashumdinger

Examples from the Web for funny

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Yet see now, these funny little animals on the surface of the spinning-ball.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • It's funny—that's exactly what I told Aunt Cornelia about that—that man.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Let him talk, and hear you laugh when he was funny, and he was satisfied.

    Weighed and Wanting

    George MacDonald

  • Once she would have thought that that was funny; now it seemed very touching to her.

    K

    Mary Roberts Rinehart

  • Aunt is so funny, not to have guessed who wrote the Star article.

British Dictionary definitions for funny

funny

adjective -nier or -niest
  1. causing amusement or laughter; humorous; comical
  2. peculiar; odd
  3. suspicious or dubious (esp in the phrase funny business)
  4. informal faint or illto feel funny
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noun plural -nies
  1. informal a joke or witticism
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Derived Formsfunnily, 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

Word Origin and History for funny

adj.

"humorous," 1756, from fun + -y (2). Meaning "strange, odd" is 1806, said to be originally U.S. Southern. The two senses of the word led to the retort question "funny ha-ha or funny peculiar," which is attested from 1916. Related: Funnier; funniest. Funny farm "mental hospital" is slang from 1962. Funny bone "elbow end of the humerus" is 1826; funnies "newspaper comic strips" is from 1852.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with funny

funny

In addition to the idioms beginning with funny

  • funny bone
  • funny business
  • funny money

, also see under

  • fun
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.