wacky
Americanadjective
-
wackier,
comparative
-
wackiest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of wacky
First recorded in 1935–40; apparently whack (noun, as in out of whack ) + -y 1
Explanation
Something that's wacky is weird or nutty or silly. Your goofy uncle who wears a funny hat and does magic tricks at the dinner table is wacky. Use the adjective wacky when you're talking about someone with a ridiculous sense of humor. Clowns are, by definition, wacky, for example. Most people have at least one wacky relative, and some are lucky enough to have entire wacky families. Wacky comes from the nineteenth century British slang term whacky, which arose from whack, specifically the idea of getting whacked on the head so hard that it turns you wacky.
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:
"It's pretty easy to go viral for doing something weird and wacky, but that doesn't always advance the objectives of your campaign."
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Singles like Lansley are dipping their toes into the wacky world of AI dating but they’re also skeptical if it will make it easier to find love.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
Alan Greenspan’s legacy is alive and well, JPMorgan’s line of succession becomes foggier, and SoftBank releases another wacky PowerPoint.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
Reduced supply can lead to some wacky outcomes in the stock market.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Angela had a quick, wacky wit and made a game of making us laugh.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
At their peak, bubbles feature IPOs of outfits with much wackier marketing pitches than a name change to something like “AI-squared.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
Welcome to the wackier side of geoengineering - deliberately intervening in the Earth's climate system to try to counteract the damage we have done to it.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024
The sequel gets wackier, as the Smooth Moves moving team expands the business into entirely new dimensions and brings on new recruits like a sneakerhead — who literally has a sneaker for a head.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 13, 2023
Cahn: The wackier it is, the more people are like, “Oh, it’s a real relationship.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
This improbable story — a team that trailed in the final minutes of an elimination game of the play-in tournament somehow getting to the NBA Finals — now has an even wackier plot twist.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 5, 2023
On Sunday, one of the UK's wackiest races returns, bringing some Scandinavian fun to the Surrey sporting scene.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
Some of the wackiest ideas will never see the light of day, but the best might end up in one of our tech gift guides.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
The coaches’ last meeting, in 2019, resulted in one of the wackiest games in Pac-12 history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
What is your wackiest, strangest, or more exciting airplane trip?
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2023
Camp was the theme in 2019, producing what is considered one of the wackiest displays of dress by the celebrity crowd.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2023
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.
