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.
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.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Many know her from her role as D-list comedienne Jenna Maroney on “30 Rock” or spacey socialite Jacqueline Voorhees in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
Songs like “Round Midnight” or “Isn’t it Romantic” begin Bill Evans-ish before lovingly entering into a Riley-ish spacey realm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2025
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
His eyes get all spacey whenever she’s around, and sometimes when she’s not.
From "The Crossover" by Kwame Alexander
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 and Clinton were travelling on a humanitarian trip to promote Aids prevention.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026
Spacey said the allegation was "ridiculous and it never happened".
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 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.
