loony
1 Americannoun
adjective
-
lunatic; insane
-
foolish or ridiculous
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of loony
Explanation
Someone who's loony is nutty or wacky — it's a slang term for "crazy." Your loony aunt Mabel might prefer wearing a teddy bear costume when she goes to the grocery store. Loony is an informal, derogatory term for mentally ill, but it can also mean silly or outrageous. You could say, "My parents are loony — they call me three times a day and are always sending me photos of their little dog dressed in doll clothes," or talk about the loony story you read for your book group. Loony is an American-coined word, short for lunatic and also referencing the cry of the bird called a loon.
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 remixing one of cinema’s most revered classics with singular comedic flair, Wain has made a contender for his best film that succeeds by tributing his own loony industry.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
The surtitles intentionally refrain from translating much of what he says, leaving the audience to rely on his loony spoken tone and loony tunes to carry meaning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026
And I don’t think his successor will match those heights, even if he or she isn’t quite as loony as we’re speculating.
From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2024
Each is rated on a scale of bees — one for sleepy, five for loony — in honor of the insects that tortured him in the 2006 remake of “The Wicker Man.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023
I ask her more questions and she’s not staring at me like I’m loony, only answering the way she might with any adult.
From "The House That Lou Built" by Mae Respicio
Everyone thinks they can do it: players, parents, students, boosters, administrators, TV yappers, dogs, cats, radio loonies, and sports columnists at financial newspapers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
He thought that he could corral the loonies that he helped empower; he never considered the possibility that they might wind up coopting him.
From Slate ● Feb. 3, 2021
Her father John Barrymore, of the Barrymore acting dynasty – “The great line of loonies from which I come,” as she puts it – wasn’t around much.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 29, 2017
In 2006 Mr. Cameron dismissed the party as mostly a bunch of “fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists” but UKIP’s ability to win over his disgruntled supporters is proving an increasing headache.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2012
I used to see the loonies playin' in the grounds.
From The Black Bag by Vance, Louis Joseph
It’s possible it’d be even loonier than what we have now.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 7, 2023
What we knew was already so nuts that it's hard to believe it could be any loonier --- but it is.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2022
And a delightful closing-credits sequence full of Badu outtakes gives us a glimpse of the looser, loonier comedy we could’ve more fully enjoyed if the film weren’t so committed to its dousing-the-spitfire formula.
From Slate ● Feb. 7, 2019
Yes, in its loonier moments this movie is exactly that awesome, although I can't decide whether it's setting out to be the "Showgirls" of medieval-fairy tale movies or simply getting there by accident.
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2011
Chuchu might have stepped from one of Garcia Marquez's loonier chapters.
From Time Magazine Archive
Few if any of even Kim Jong-un’s looniest tirades match these posts for their wild-eyed savagery.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
She added that "one of the looniest proposals on the table is that you can actually cut down forests to turn into furniture" - with companies claiming they store carbon.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2022
“The looniest guys you’ll talk to in wrestling are really about winning, and all else doesn’t matter.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2016
And in perhaps his looniest promise, he can have Noah living at Yaddo by the end of the week — for as long as he wants!
From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2015
“We had to pick the looniest of the bunch, didn’t we?”
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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.
