junky
1 Americanadjective
noun
-
junkies
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of junky1
First recorded in 1945–50; junk 1 + -y 2
Origin of junky2
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:
"In other words, junky processing may harm your gut in ways that ripple up to your brain."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
Through October, the junky small-company category rallied by 256% versus just 29% for those with quality characteristics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
It included absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, “workslop” reports that waste coworkers’ time — and lots of talking cats.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
Even the artificial-intelligence trade, which has been producing profits, may be more junky than it seems.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2025
“We’ll have Nerf-gun parties, get a gigantic TV, and stock the kitchen with junky stuff that our moms never buy. For kids only.”
From "The House That Lou Built" by Mae Respicio
The most important thing political junkies might need this week is patience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Everything from diabetes to schizophrenia, he claims, is caused by Americans being junk food junkies.
From Salon ● May 18, 2026
So behold the Office of Personnel Management’s new federal workforce data portal—arguably Washington’s first success in providing useful information to average citizens and policy junkies alike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
But when it was bought by Expedia and shut down in 2017, travel junkies went looking for a suitable replacement and couldn’t find one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2025
“The object of attention. Nicole. Gossip junkies love the chase. End that, you end the story.”
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
So, yes, junk food is even junkier than previously thought.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Momentarily terrifying, they encouraged investors to “buy the dip” quickly and recklessly—the junkier the stocks, the better.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
The director Robert Schwentke, whose credits include “Flightplan” and junkier diversions like “R.I.P.D.,” takes on this franchise with generic competence.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2015
He lays down simplistic but steady disco drumming, beautifully squelchy old synthesizer tones and a junkier version of the guitar-scratching perfected by James Brown’s old guitarist, Jimmy Nolen.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2010
Some are just slightly less junkier version of sugar-loaded snacks, but others are worth trying.
From Time Magazine Archive
The makes, the models, the mufflers that could furnish even the junkiest car with an impressive sound — how every detail felt like a secret he was revealing just to me, his only child.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2024
“It’s the escalating hype surrounding the release of the junkiest stuff, the willingness of the press to play along, the lust to be ‘No. 1 in America’ on thousands of screens.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 9, 2022
“Jonathan Demme is the American cinema’s king of amusing artifacts: blinding bric-a-brac, the junkiest of jewelry, costumes so frightening they take your breath away,” Ms. Maslin wrote.
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2017
"These were the junkiest of the junk bonds, yet investors who asked specific questions about them were lied to," says New York Attorney General Robert Abrams.
From Time Magazine Archive
Reynolds is an ingratiating actor who, because he's fun to watch, can save even the junkiest movie.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
