loopy
Americanadjective
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full of loops.
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Slang.
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eccentric; crazy; dotty.
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befuddled or confused, especially due to intoxication.
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Scot. crafty; sly.
adjective
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full of loops; curly or twisted
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informal slightly mad, crazy, or stupid
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of loopy
Explanation
Someone who's loopy is batty or nutty — in other words, not the picture of mental health. You might get so tired after staying up late to study for a test that you start to act goofy and giggly and a little bit loopy. Even if you are completely sane, you can still act loopy when you're embarrassed or tired or just being silly. You might love the circus because of the loopy music and the painted-on, loopy smiles of the clowns. Or maybe you're a fan of loopy comedies, films that feature characters with harebrained ideas that backfire in ridiculous ways. This informal meaning dates from the early 20th century — earlier, the word meant "deceitful."
Vocabulary lists containing loopy
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:
I’ve seen it on many products, in many different presentations — pink-glitter bubble letters on a sticker, loopy black cursive on a tote bag, industrial embroidery on a hat.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
The series is wildly atmospheric with plenty of gallows humor and more than a few truly loopy plotlines, but great fun with Davis managing, as ever, to sell even the most preposterous scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
In his loopy 1957 essay on hipsters, Norman Mailer talked about the “psychic havoc” of living under the threat of nuclear annihilation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
The same expressions of gratitude for gifts and buying records and descriptions of touring and the band’s other activities, but they definitely sound tired and a little loopy.
From Salon ● Dec. 23, 2025
At first, I thought I was loopy, like I was buggin’, so I stepped out to make sure I had walked into the right room.
From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds
Once she stopped trying to outhit them, hitting loopier returns instead of flatter ones, each contest swung her way.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2025
But instead of a dry take on the investigation or a straight monologue like we might have seen in the Alec Baldwin-as-Trump years, we instead get something much loopier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2023
Still, stripped of its loopier manifestations, the liberal rediscovery of states as sovereign policymaking entities could be a positive development.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 15, 2017
One Mississippi places Notaro’s autobiographical character in sharp relief against characters who deal with grief in loopier manners than she ever would.
From Time ● Sep. 8, 2016
Her letters had loopier tails than her own.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
The only Volkstheater production at Radikal Jung, it is quite possibly the loopiest and most entertaining German production that premiered last year.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2022
This may be the loopiest seasonal release this year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2017
The result is a generous, achingly tender comedy that offers some of the loopiest, most wondrously inventive humor this side of Jared Hess.
From The New Yorker ● May 9, 2017
By contrast, the narrative conventions of Trainwreck even at its loopiest seem a little constraining.
From Slate ● Jul. 26, 2015
A romantic partner knows how to motivate, how to comfort when a grant proposal doesn't go your way and how to rein in the loopiest ideas.
From Nature ● Jun. 24, 2014
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.
