as in silly
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
she's always off on some screwball plan
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
a screwball who liked to save lint and bits of string
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of screwball
A.a. Dowd, Chron, 12 May 2023
Each event becomes screwball one-act with different chaos ensembles.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2023
Armond White, National Review, 10 Jan. 2025
If screwball comedies provided the comic escape people needed in the Great Depression, these days some Americans want to scream.
—Eric Kohn, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Adjective
Here, Johnson applies a screwball procedural framework to a true story of tech-world boom and bust, building his movie on a clash of values and personalities.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 12 May 2023
Each event becomes screwball one-act with different chaos ensembles.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2023
Noun
Imagine all those ideas on identity, fate, talent, libido, and self-referential consciousness in the screwball comedy Being John Malkovich remade into a movie musical about British pop star Robbie Williams.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 Jan. 2025
If screwball comedies provided the comic escape people needed in the Great Depression, these days some Americans want to scream.
—Eric Kohn, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for screwball
Adjective
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Finally, its focus on physics means that things get silly pretty quickly, which makes for very shareable moments and clips.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
17 Mar. 2025
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Dozen Bakery off Nolensville Pike is celebrating this silliest of holidays with special pies and quiche.—
Adam Tamburin,
Axios,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Rachel does a great job conveying such collective endeavors and group dreaming, the whole circumference of people who support bands: friends of friends, drop-of-a-hat designers, stopgap agents, stall owners, dealers, grandparents with record collections, eccentrics without portfolios.—
Ian Penman,
Harper's Magazine,
19 Feb. 2025
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Would love to know what these career eccentrics make of the pomp and pageantry of the Grammys.—
August Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Undermining tax collections and the IRS goes hand in glove with Trump’s absurd belief that the U.S. federal government can or should try to fund itself primarily via tariffs.—
New York Daily News,
Twin Cities,
16 Mar. 2025
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The more absurd or humorous examples, like the animation of Irving that plays at his funeral, can also be disconcerting.—
Abigail Lee,
Variety,
15 Mar. 2025
Noun
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That’s not to mention the sheer psychological toll that slipping through the timestream or reliving events can have on a character’s psyche.—
Hayes Madsen,
Rolling Stone,
16 Mar. 2025
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Tartaglia voices multiple characters in the series.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
16 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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When Luca pulls a gun on him, ordering him to drive, Spencer quickly disarms him and then slaps him for the stupid move.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
9 Mar. 2025
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Indexing gives you a better chance to ‘be less stupid.’ — Investment advisor Barry Ritholtz Those dismal statistics come to us via the latest annual SPIVA scorecard (the acronym stands for Standard and Poor’s Index vs. Active).—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Peter, though revered as an apostle worthy of veneration, is also portrayed in the Gospels as prone to mistakes, often foolish, and sometimes outright contradictory to God’s will.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
28 Feb. 2025
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The notion that women should be flawless multitaskers, managing a perfect home and career while never showing vulnerability or weakness is not only unrealistic, but also foolish.—
Nicole Lipkin,
Forbes,
25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Tauruses will go crazy for something chic, functional, and soft to the touch.—
Meghan Rose,
Glamour,
9 Feb. 2023
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Before getting into the chaos of episode 5, that episode 4 cliff hanger was crazy.—
Calie Schepp,
EW.com,
6 Feb. 2023
Adjective
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In one particularly horrifying incident, one family of herders lost over 40 of their stock, a fact that would contribute to the death of one child, which then caused the father to go mad and be sent to prison.—
Harrison Richlin,
IndieWire,
13 Mar. 2025
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Staff Pick: The mad scramble for backyard eggs Naeema Fineley's backyard chicken coop in Georgia.—
Elizabeth Robinson,
NBC News,
13 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Screwball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/screwball. Accessed 22 Mar. 2025.
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