tipsy
Americanadjective
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slightly intoxicated or drunk.
-
characterized by or due to intoxication.
a tipsy lurch.
-
tipping, unsteady, or tilted, as if from intoxication.
adjective
-
slightly drunk
-
slightly tilted or tipped; askew
Other Word Forms
- tipsily adverb
- tipsiness noun
Etymology
Origin of tipsy
1570–80; tip 2 or obsolete tip strong drink (perhaps back formation from tipple 1 ) + -sy. Compare obsolete bumpsy in same sense
Explanation
Use tipsy to describe a person who's just slightly drunk. If you've ever been to a wedding reception, you've probably seen a tipsy person. Your aunt who gets a little tipsy on New Year's Eve might giggle more than usual, for example. You can also describe an inanimate object as tipsy, if it's wobbly or unstable, or even a little crooked. Tipsy comes from tip and its meaning of "slope or overturn." The old-fashioned verb tipple, to drink alcohol, came later. In the 1800's, a "tipsy cake" was one soaked in alcohol.
Vocabulary lists containing tipsy
With the Fire on High
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Zeitoun
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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.
This is a comic epic of bursting balloons and black eyes, tipsy aunts and tottering uncles, an errant mouse and driving snows.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
It’s as if he’s saying to us and all the tipsy ladies in the audience: Check this out — LOL, right?
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025
Yes, Jacklyn’s all smiles and compliments until a tipsy Laurie retires, giving the others some one-on-one time.
From Salon • Mar. 10, 2025
The veteran wine taster managed to avoid feeling tipsy by only drinking small sips or sometimes not swallowing the wine at all.
From BBC • Apr. 23, 2024
They leaned against each other like tipsy friends gathered at a bar, tilting at drowsy angles.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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.
