spacey
adjective
dazed, out of touch with reality, or easily confused; spaced-out.
Jump To:
-
spacey
-
Spacey
SpaceynounKevin, original name Kevin Spacey Fowler . born 1959, US actor; films include Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), The Usual Suspects (1995), American Beauty (1999), which earned him an Academy Award, The Shipping News (2001), and Beyond the Sea (2004); artistic director of Old Vic Theatre Company, London, from 2003
spacey
American
[spey-see]
/ ˈspeɪ si /
Or
spacy
adjective
Informal.
-
spacier,
comparative
-
spaciest
superlative
-
dazed, out of touch with reality, or easily confused; spaced-out.
The younger character was spacey and prone to making mistakes.
-
characterized by an ethereal or dreamlike quality, or evoking a feeling reminiscent of the altered state experienced under the influence of narcotic drugs.
He uses lots of effects that give the music an eerie, spacey feel.
Spacey
1
British
/ ˈspeɪsɪ /
noun
spacey
2
British
/ ˈspeɪsɪ /
adjective
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spacey
Explanation
Someone who's spacey acts distracted, befuddled, and maybe a bit strange. You might be a little spacey after you get your wisdom teeth removed. When people say funny things as they're coming out of anesthesia, acting silly or out of touch with reality, they're being spacey. You might also have a spacey friend who simply tends to be a little forgetful or quirky. This informal adjective, also spelled spacy, originally meant "roomy" and then "acting or feeling as if you're in outer space," probably from 1965 American slang, spaced-out.
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:
Unlike most modern pop albums, it's the work of just three people, with Rae and her collaborators Elvira Anderfjärd and Luka Kloser establishing a stylish, spacey and occasionally off-kilter sonic palette all of their own.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
The first two Tame Impala albums, 2010’s “Innerspeaker” and 2012’s “Lonerism,” were filled with carefully assembled psychedelic rock featuring spacey guitar riffs and moments of pleasing disorientation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
Its spacey bass line, Afro background vocals and subtle melodic effects are complemented by Pabön’s rapping.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
And he appeared just as often in more popular fare, playing a spacey tank commander in “Kelly’s Heroes,” a demented arsonist in “Backdraft” and an authoritarian president in the “Hunger Games” films.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
I felt very spacey and thought it was just best to repeat the last phrase of whatever the Colonel said so he could keep talking.
From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
Scott had already finished shooting his thriller about the 1973 kidnapping of teenaged J. Paul Getty III when sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against Kevin Spacey, whom he’d cast as oil billionaire J. Paul Getty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Reiner was initially represented by high-profile criminal defense attorney Alan Jackson, who also repped Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, but in January, Jackson dropped Reiner when his siblings didn’t pay for the pricey defense.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Spacey denies any non-consensual contact with the men.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
Jackson, a high-profile attorney who has previously represented Hollywood clients including Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, told reporters he was "legally and ethically" barred from explaining why he had stepped back.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
“In high school one of my nicknames was Spacey Faraci because I always had my head in the clouds.”
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Lesh and Weir continued with Furthur, which reconnected to the adventurous improvisations of the Grateful Dead’s spacier excursions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2024
Those “Midnight City” synths never stopped squeaking in our ears, but on the spacier rock-band record “Fantasy,” main man Anthony Gonzalez shows he still has a knack for expansive anthems.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2023
I guess for a song that’s destined to orbit around this branch of military in perpetuity, I was hoping for something … I don’t know, spacier?
From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2022
Her vogue-inviting baile funk, topped with her sinuously musical Portuguese raps, is explosive on a club soundsystem; new single mEnorme shows off a softer, spacier R&B side.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 28, 2018
Deerhunter, his band, used to be noisier, sometimes punkier and sometimes more abstract; Atlas Sound, his solo recordings, used to be dronier and spacier.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2011
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.
