Synonyms

palsy-walsy

American

[pal-zee-wal-zee] / ˈpæl ziˈwæl zi /

adjective

Slang.

friendly or appearing to be friendly in a very intimate or hearty way.

The police kept their eye on him because he was trying to get palsy-walsy with the security guard.

palsy-walsy British

/ ˈpælzɪˌwælzɪ /

adjective

informal excessively friendly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of palsy-walsy

First recorded in 1930–35; rhyming compound based on palsy ²

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.

In the “Valley People” rundown, a notice laments that the “smugly oppressive dominance” of the Anderson Valley School Board by certain “palsy-walsy” potentates has made it “a kind of self-perpetuating monument to rural nepotism.”

From Newsweek

Then they had to go ruin it all with that whole glasnost thing, the demolition of the Berlin Wall, and Gorbachev and Reagan getting all palsy-walsy.

From Seattle Times

Dandy Don, for the record, assures me that he and Humble Howard are palsy-walsy.”

From BusinessWeek

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023