giddy

[gid-ee]

adjective

giddier, giddiest 

1. affected with vertigo; dizzy.

   Synonyms: vertiginous, lightheaded

2. attended with or causing dizziness.

   a giddy climb.

3. frivolous and lighthearted; flighty.

   a giddy young person.

   Synonyms: vacillating, inconstant, fickle, mercurial, volatile, unstable

verb (used with or without object)

giddied, giddying 

1. to make or become giddy.

giddy

/ ˈɡɪdɪ /

adjective

1. affected with a reeling sensation and feeling as if about to fall; dizzy

2. causing or tending to cause vertigo

3. impulsive; scatterbrained

4. an exclamation of surprise

verb

1. to make or become giddy

Other Word Forms

• giddily adverb
• giddiness noun
• ungiddy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of giddy¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English gidy, Old English gidig “mad,” variant of gydig (unrecorded), derivative of god God, presumably originally “possessed by a divine being”

Word History and Origins

Origin of giddy¹

Old English gydig mad, frenzied, possessed by God; related to _God

Example Sentences

Was she giddy with joy to finally bid the barren fields of Plinkst good-bye?

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Yet despite all her worries, waking up in the deliciously familiar discomfort of a Swanburne cot made Penelope feel positively giddy.

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They were much too excited to stop talking but too giddy with exhaustion to make any sense.

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Penelope remembered the giddy way Margaret had teased her about Simon.

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He may in fact still be in the Ray Dolby Ballroom, listening to people tell him giddy and sometimes teary stories of when they first saw him in a movie.

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Related Words

• bemused 
• dizzy 
• gaga 
• skittish 
• woozy