daffy

adjective

daf·​fy ˈda-fē 

daffier; daffiest

: silly or strange often in a way that is funny

a daffy comedy/character

her daffy charm

As a hotshot physician stranded in the daffy small town of Grady, S.C., Michael J. Fox performs with his usual Swiss-watch timing.

—Owen Gleiberman

But the most successful of her paintings assuage all doubts. They are congeries of daffy cartoonish shapes in stretched canvas or jigsawed wood, thickly painted in rich, loud, chafing colors and arrayed on the wall in roughly rectangular layouts.

—Peter Schjeldahl

daffily

ˈda-fə-lē 

adverb

a daffily entertaining video

Synonyms

• balmy
• barmy [chiefly British]
• bats
• batty
• bedlam
• bonkers
• brainsick
• bughouse [slang]
• certifiable
• crackbrained
• cracked
• crackers
• crackpot
• cranky [dialect]
• crazed
• crazy
• cuckoo
• daft
• demented
• deranged
• fruity [slang]
• gaga
• haywire
• insane
• kooky
• kookie
• loco [slang]
• loony
• looney
• loony tunes
• looney tunes
• lunatic
• mad
• maniacal
• maniac
• mental
• meshuga
• meshugge
• meshugah
• meshuggah
• moonstruck
• non compos mentis
• nuts
• nutty
• psycho
• psychotic
• scatty [chiefly British]
• screwy
• unbalanced
• unhinged
• unsound
• wacko
• whacko
• wacky
• whacky
• wud [chiefly Scottish]

Examples of daffy in a Sentence

The actress is starring in a daffy new comedy this summer.

The book is filled with daffy characters.

Recent Examples on the Web

No matter how daffy some of it is, the production has the important factor of clarity; a quality that the great stage director Peter Hall used to say is a vital component of any revival of a classic. —Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 4 Apr. 2025

Dave The Diver takes notes from Yakuza, a series filled to the brim with goofy diversions that bely a surprisingly adept narrative, fleshing out its cast far more than anyone could have reasonably expected in such a daffy conceit. —Luke Winkie, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025

Tom Hulce is daffy and delicious as the airhead prodigy Mozart, but few of us can identify with that kind of genius. —EW.com, 2 Mar. 2025

For devoted fans of Bridget Jones — the daffy dame at the center of both a popular series of novels and their attendant film adaptations — sequel mileage very much varies. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 12 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

obsolete English daff, noun, fool

First Known Use

circa 1884, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for daffy

• jaffe
• taffy
• holography
• telegraphy

Kids Definition

daffy

adjective

daf·​fy ˈdaf-ē 

daffier; daffiest

: silly, odd, or peculiar usually in an amusing way

a daffy spy story

also : attracted to or fascinated with

daffy over cars

daffy about stamp collecting