peachy-keen
Americanadjective
Usage
What does peachy-keen mean? Peachy-keen is a very informal and playful way of saying excellent or wonderful.The word peachy can be used to mean the same thing.The word keen can mean enthusiastic, but it can also be used as a slang term meaning wonderful or splendid, and this is probably what it’s intended to mean in peachy-keen (making it doubly positive, kind of like the phrase fine and dandy).As far as slang goes, peachy-keen sounds a bit dated. For this reason, it’s often used to be a bit cutesy or silly. Perhaps because it sounds overly optimistic or cheerful, it’s also often used in a sarcastic way, as in Yeah, my meeting ran late and I got a flat tire, but sure, my day was just peachy-keen.The term is sometimes seen without a hyphen (peachy keen).Example: You may be peachy-keen, jelly bean, but I’m nectarine-keen—I’m smooth and I’m sweet and I’ve got all the buzz without the fuzz.
Etymology
Origin of peachy-keen
An Americanism dating back to 1955–60
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.
“Going to take a one-week vacation that was previously planned, and be back in a week, and everything will be peachy-keen and hunky-dory,” he said.
From Salon
Just before departing, Smith told colleague Chris Wallace during on-air banter, that everything would be “peachy-keen” on his return.
From Salon
But in the words on the teleprompter, everything was peachy-keen.
From Salon
"Going to take a one-week vacation that was previously planned, and be back in a week, and everything will be peachy-keen and hunky-dory," Smith said.
From Salon
In the spring of 2018, just before former network host Shep Smith departed on his own vacation amid a squabble with the network's primetime lineup, he told colleague Chris Wallace during on-air banter that everything would be "peachy-keen" on his return.
From Salon
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.
