giddy

[ gid-ee ]

adjective

, gid·di·er, gid·di·est.

1. affected with vertigo; dizzy.

   Synonyms: vertiginous, lightheaded

2. attended with or causing dizziness:

   a giddy climb.

3. frivolous and lighthearted; flighty:

   a giddy young person.

   Synonyms: vacillating, inconstant, fickle, mercurial, volatile, unstable

verb (used with or without object)

, gid·died, gid·dy·ing.

1. to make or become giddy.

giddy

/ ˈɡɪdɪ /

adjective

1. affected with a reeling sensation and feeling as if about to fall; dizzy
2. causing or tending to cause vertigo
3. impulsive; scatterbrained
4. my giddy aunt
   my giddy aunt an exclamation of surprise

verb

1. to make or become giddy

Derived Forms

• ˈgiddily, adverb
• ˈgiddiness, noun

Other Words From

• gid·di·ly adverb
• gid·di·ness noun
• un·gid·dy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of giddy¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English gidy, Old English gidig “mad,” variant of gydig (unrecorded), derivative of god God, presumably originally “possessed by a divine being”

Word History and Origins

Origin of giddy¹

Old English gydig mad, frenzied, possessed by God; related to God

Example Sentences

When the Steamboat Powdercats mechanic helped us jump the dead battery in my Toyota 4Runner, we were as giddy as we had been when we were roommates in the late 1990s when everything about our lives revolved around powder, sun, skiing and friends.

From Washington Post

The Board of Supervisors kicks off the effort to rewrite its plan on Wednesday with a Democrat majority for the first time in decades, a change environmentalists are giddy will lead to more progressive steps to address climate change.

From Voice of San Diego

She described that people surrounding her were giddy, excited and angry.

From Fortune

At one recent event in Topeka, she seemed giddy when she described polls the campaign has said are turning her way.

From Washington Post

It’s about taking time to process a shared, giddy leap into the future with the person you love most—and just because you can’t trek on a glacier doesn’t mean your love is anything less of an adventure.

From Outside Online

I found this as exciting as Enright did—she sounded giddy—but one of my coworkers was less enthused.

From The Daily Beast

Some were silent from shock, others giddy and smiling as they boarded the U.S. Air Force C-130s.

From The Daily Beast

The prevailing color is pink; the headgear: red bows and ears; the guests: super giddy.

From The Daily Beast

His giddy glee turns sickening when you consider the coldhearted inhumanity that necessarily lies beneath.

From The Daily Beast

After a friend shared the Kickstarter campaign, she felt giddy.

From The Daily Beast

He who has attained it grows giddy, and the fiercest winds are summoned to blow him from his eminence.

From Project Gutenberg

The silent parterre would be gay with a giddy, chattering mob of Society people before long, Vera hurriedly explained.

From Project Gutenberg

The mountain paths were narrow; they were often a mere cornice or ledge projecting over a giddy precipice.

From Project Gutenberg

The vapours revolve, the waves spin, the giddy Naiads roll; sea and sky are livid; noises as of cries of despair are in the air.

From Project Gutenberg

This is a cluster of white houses on the sea-beat foot of a hill that sweeps upward to the giddy white clouds.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bemused
• dizzy
• gaga
• skittish
• woozy