fishy

adjective

ˈfi-shē 

fishier; fishiest

1

: of or resembling fish especially in taste or odor

2

: creating doubt or suspicion : questionable

Synonyms

• debatable
• disputable
• dodgy [chiefly British]
• doubtable
• doubtful
• dubious
• dubitable
• equivocal
• problematic
• problematical
• queer
• questionable
• shady
• shaky
• suspect
• suspicious

Examples of fishy in a Sentence

There's something fishy about that guy.

something's fishy about the way he's acting

Recent Examples on the Web

Something fishy in our past While the common ancestor of vertebrates with synovial joints is still a mystery, the oldest specimen with evidence of these joints is Bothriolepis canadensis, a fish that lived about 387 to 360 million years ago during the Middle to Late Devonian period. —Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 21 Mar. 2025

But O’Neill asserts that many felt that was a fishy diagnosis considering how quickly and drastically Ruby would have had to change. —Jake Kring-Schreifels, TIME, 7 Mar. 2025

Where the permit system may fail, Kaegi plans this year to hire an additional team to hunt down fishy transactions — like multimillion-dollar sales on properties the office has categorized as vacant — to identify and patch holes in the office’s databases. —A.d. Quig, Chicago Tribune, 16 Mar. 2025

Common varieties are often described as salty, umami (earthy), fishy, or briny. —Adrienne Dellwo, Verywell Health, 14 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

fishy

adjective

ˈfish-ē 

fishier; fishiest

1

: of, relating to, or resembling fish

a fishy odor

2

: arousing doubt or suspicion : questionable

the story sounds fishy to me