daft

adjective

ˈdaft 

also ˈdäft

1

chiefly British, informal : silly, foolish

Don't do anything daft.

see also daft as a brush

2

chiefly British, informal : mad

… he looks at me as if I were daft.

—Johanna McGeary

3

Scotland : frivolously merry

daftly adverb

daftness

ˈdaf(t)-nəs 

noun

Synonyms of daft

• stupid
• silly
• foolish
• absurd
• insane
• mad
• crazy
• idiotic

Examples of daft in a Sentence

Your idea seems a bit daft to me.

She looked at us as if we'd gone daft.

Recent Examples on the Web

Two New York sports talk hosts this week took daft shots at Joe Davis and came off — in the last adjective with which any true New Yorker would want to be described — as soft. —Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2026

The town also has a pied piper of the purity police (Ana Gasteyer, in peak form) and a light-in-his-loafers mayor (Brad Oscar), who has a conveniently daft wife (Ann Harada, reprising her role from the series). —Naveen Kumar, Variety, 21 Apr. 2026

Krejci’s sending off for two bookings in just 196 seconds certainly looked like one of the daftest dismissals of the Premier League season. —Steve Madeley, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2026

Every track has enough daft escapades to pack an 11-minute TV episode as the duo obsess over twinks and trainers and make fun of insecure tryhards. —Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 4 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English daffte, daft, defte "well-mannered, gentle, dull, foolish," going back to Old English gedæfte "gentle, mild, meek," adjective derivative of a Germanic base *daƀ- "becoming, fit" (whence also Old English gedafen "appropriate, fitting," Gothic gadaban "to happen, be suitable," with lengthened grade Old English gedēfe "fitting, worthy, quiet, tranquil," Middle Dutch onghedoef "wild, rough," Gothic gadob ist "it is fitting"), going back to dialectal Indo-European *d^hab^h- or *d^hob^h-, whence also Old Church Slavic podobati "to become, be fitting," dobrŭ "good, pleasant," Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian dôba, dȍba "time, season," Lithuanian dabà "nature, character," dabnùs "well-dressed, elegant"

Note: The sense progression from Germanic to Modern English is apparently "fit, becoming" to "well-mannered, modest" to "dull, stupid" to "foolish, irrational." See also deft.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing daft

• as daft as a brush
• daft as a brush

Rhymes for daft

• aft
• chaffed
• craft
• draft
• draught
• graft
• graphed
• haft
• kraft
• laughed
• raft
• shaft

Kids Definition

daft

adjective

ˈdaft 

chiefly British, informal

1

: foolish, silly

2

: insane, mad

daftly adverb

daftness

ˈdaf(t)-nəs 

noun