zippy
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of zippy
Explanation
Zippy can mean speedy, or bright and spirited. You may wake up in a zippy mood, full of energy, and jump in your zippy little car so you can get to school early. When an object is zippy, it moves fast or energetically, like the zippy robotic vacuum cleaner that regularly terrifies your cat. And when people are zippy, they're spirited, like a zippy dance troupe. Language can be zippy too — think of wisecracking dialog or clever wordplay. This informal adjective comes from zip, "the sound of something moving rapidly."
Vocabulary lists containing zippy
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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.
See Examples For:
Despite the zippy performance of the premium segment, overall underlying price-mix slowed a little to 1.8%, compared with the 2.8% booked in the year’s first half.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
It’s muscular and thrilling and zippy, even though at over two and a half hours long, it has a toy dump truck’s worth of plot.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
The economy expanded at zippy 4.4% annual pace in the third quarter of 2025, an updated estimate showed, to keep the U.S. on track to score the fifth straight year of above-average growth.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 22, 2026
HBM stands for high-bandwidth memory, a zippy, costly kind used for artificial intelligence.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
All I have in the way of a wallet is a zippy pouch thing.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
The selective-retail business recorded an even zippier 8% increase, driven by strong growth at beauty retailer Sephora.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Up ahead, Mr. Taylor was piloting a smaller and zippier ATV.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2023
And we do mean anything: soups, salads, grilled meats, dips and even casseroles as a zippier alternative to fried onions.
From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2023
On paper, it looks like the Corolla Cross should be zippier, but the Chevy’s turbocharged nature makes its power and torque more readily accessible at low rpm.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
As a guide, Cuchna can be too earnest for my liking — Kirk Hamilton’s “Strong Songs” podcast is much more fun, much zippier — but Cuchna is astute and digs into lots of juicy stuff.
From Washington Post ● May 5, 2020
In 2K Games’ Lego 2K Drive, you can assemble a high-speed racer brick-by-brick, then compete against your friends to find out who’s got the zippiest monster on the track.
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2023
This might be the zippiest roast chicken and potatoes recipe out there.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2022
The Chevrolet Bolt, the all-electric coupe just introduced by General Motors, isn’t the first or the zippiest all-electric vehicle on the market.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2016
Here, a rundown of the zippiest models, including those coming out in the next few years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2016
The movie…explodes into the year’s wittiest, zippiest adventure, with each knockout action sequence eclipsing the last and with echoes of ’60s James Bond films and Fantastic Four comic books.
From Time ● Nov. 5, 2014
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
