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.

zany — meaning, pronunciation and 4 definitions

noun

2 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
a buffoon in one of the old comedies; imitates others for ludicrous effect
Broaderclown
2.
a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
Synonymsfathead goof goofball bozo jackass goose cuckoo twat
Broaderfool

adjective

2 sensesA word that describes or qualifies a noun.

1.
ludicrous, foolish
“wore a goofy hat”
“a silly idea”
“some wacky plan for selling more books”
Synonymsgoofy silly wacky whacky
Similarfoolish
colloquialism
2.
like a clown
“a buffoonish walk”
“a clownish face”
“a zany sense of humor”
Synonymsbuffoonish clownish clownlike
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.

Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for zany come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.

noun

2 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
a buffoon in one of the old comedies; imitates others for ludicrous effect
Broaderclown
2.
a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
Synonymsfathead goof goofball bozo jackass goose cuckoo twat
Broaderfool

adjective

2 sensesA word that describes or qualifies a noun.

1.
ludicrous, foolish
“wore a goofy hat”
“a silly idea”
“some wacky plan for selling more books”
Synonymsgoofy silly wacky whacky
Similarfoolish
colloquialism
2.
like a clown
“a buffoonish walk”
“a clownish face”
“a zany sense of humor”
Synonymsbuffoonish clownish clownlike
Similarhumorous

Other forms of zany

plural: zanies·
comparative or superlative: zanier
comparative or superlative: zaniest

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.

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zany

noun

adjective

Other forms of zany

Questions about zany

Tools

Jump to

Images & video

PDF & writing

Calculate & convert

Health & fitness

AI, code & work

Learn & play

Tool directories

Search

Jump to

Explore AltFTool

Help

Theme

zany

noun

adjective

Other forms of zany

Questions about zany