zany

1. 1.

   ludicrous, foolish

   “wore a goofy hat”

   “a silly idea”

   “some wacky plan for selling more books”

   Synonymsgoofysillywackywhacky

   Similarfoolish

   colloquialism

2. 2.

   like a clown

   “a buffoonish walk”

   “a clownish face”

   “a zany sense of humor”

   Synonymsbuffoonishclownishclownlike

   Similarhumorous

Other forms of zany

plural

zanies·

comparative or superlative

zanier

comparative or superlative

zaniest

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about zany

What does zany mean?

zany means "a buffoon in one of the old comedies; imitates others for ludicrous effect". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in zany?

zany has 2 syllables: za-ny. The stress falls on "za". In IPA it is /ˈzeɪni/.

What is another word for zany?

Close synonyms include fathead, goof, goofball, bozo, jackass. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is zany a common word?

zany is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.