gooney
Americanadjective
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Slang. stupid, foolish, or awkward.
a gooney smile on his face.
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Informal. thuggish; brutal.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of gooney
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:
She favors expressions like “Oh my gooney goo hoo!” and “Okie pokie dokie shmokie!”
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2013
Even then remote and selfabsorbed, Grace used to write poetry, some serious, some "little gooney ones" that showed a neat turn of phrase.
From Time Magazine Archive
I have helped some of these gooney birds to build their nests, and the aid was accepted gracefully, but the bird selects the site.
From Time Magazine Archive
The friendly gooney birds lay their big eggs on or near the runways, rise in clouds as if to welcome planes on landing or to see them off on takeoffs.
From Time Magazine Archive
Cup of tea, 7 A.M. and breakfast as usual at 10; turtle and gooney; Heavy sea on reef, and ship fast disappearing, boats out picking up driftwood.
From The Last Cruise of the Saginaw by George H. Read
And the Navy learned that nothing smells up a plane more pungently than a load of airsick gooneys.
From Time Magazine Archive
First of all, it will take the Navy at least five years to purge the birds: young gooneys leave Midway shortly after birth to wander, return only at the age of five.
From Time Magazine Archive
Unerringly, the gooneys, thoughtfully marked with a shocking-pink head dye for identincation, flew back to Midway.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Navy has tried to shoo the gooneys away.
From Time Magazine Archive
For a week they subsisted on gooneys, taro root, cocoanuts and cocoanut milk, and a sea-turtle which Scraggs found wandering on the beach.
From Captain Scraggs or, The Green-Pea Pirates by Gordon Grant
When the goonies discover their hiding place, the Fratellis plot to snuff out this loose end, causing them to literally dig deeper into the house with the criminals hot on their trail.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2025
The goonies quickly sense that Sloth is one of them and that his so-called deformities can be turned into assets.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2025
Cue that priceless look on every adult’s face when the goonies are reunited with their families as the entire pirate ship resurfaces to float joyously in the distance.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2025
If all else fails, DuMont will introduce ultra-high frequency noises to drive the goonies to madness or to less sonic surroundings.
From Time Magazine Archive
“That bunch are as crazy as the goonies behind us. Pringles is what I call them.”
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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.
