giddy
/ˈɡɪd.i/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.22 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Feeling a sense of spinning in the head, causing a perception of unsteadiness and being about to fall down; dizzy.
adj
adj
Unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive; also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous.
adj
Unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive; also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous.
Dated
adj
Joyfully elated; overcome with excitement or happiness.
Example Sentences
- "The man became giddy upon standing up so fast."
- "[W]hilst I vvas thus muſing, and attentively looking upon the VVater, to try vvhether I could diſcover the Bottom, it happened to me, as it often does to thoſe that gaze too ſtedfaſtly on ſvvift Streams, that my Head began to grovv giddy, and my Leggs to ſtagger tovvards the River, into vvhich queſtionleſs I had fell, if Philaretus had not ſeaſonably and obligingly prevented it."
- "I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy."
- "They see the roofs and argue about where the different churches are: Rathmines' blue dome, Adam and Eve's, saint Laurence O'Toole's. But it makes them giddy to look so they pull up their skirts …"
- "Susan loved to drink wine, and I was not a drinker at all, so I'd just sit there and watch her drink glass after glass and get giddier and giddier."
- "They climbed to a giddy height."
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Middle English gidi, gedy, gydy (“demonically controlled or possessed; crazy, insane; foolish, idiotic, ridiculous, unwise; unsure; (rare) dizzy, shaky; (rare) of an animal: crazed, out of control; a fool”) [and other forms], from Old English gidiġ, gydiġ (“possessed by a demon or spirit, insane, mad”), from Proto-West Germanic *gudīg (“ghostly, spirited”, literally “possessed by a god or spirit”), from *god (“god”) + *-ig, *-g (suffix forming adjectives with the senses of being, doing, or having). Thus the word's elements correspond to god + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’, forming adjectives). The noun and the verb are derived from the adjective.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡɪd.i/
- British English: /ˈɡɪd.i/