Word Study
giddy
CIDE DICTIONARY
giddy, a. [OE. gidi mad, silly, AS. gidig, of unknown origin, cf. Norw. gidda to shake, tremble.].
- Having in the head a sensation of whirling or reeling about; having lost the power of preserving the balance of the body, and therefore wavering and inclined to fall; lightheaded; dizzy. [1913 Webster]"By giddy head and staggering legs betrayed." [1913 Webster]
- Promoting or inducing giddiness; as, a giddy height; a giddy precipice. Prior. [1913 Webster]"Upon the giddy footing of the hatches." [1913 Webster]
- Bewildering on account of rapid turning; running round with celerity; gyratory; whirling. [1913 Webster]"The giddy motion of the whirling mill." [1913 Webster]
- Characterized by inconstancy; unstable; changeable; fickle; wild; thoughtless; heedless. [1913 Webster]"Young heads are giddy and young hearts are warm." [1913 Webster]
giddy, v. i.
To reel; to whirl. Chapman. [1913 Webster]
giddy, v. t.
To make dizzy or unsteady. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
giddy, adj. & v.
--adj. (giddier, giddiest)
1 having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall, stagger, or spin round.
2 a overexcited as a result of success, pleasurable emotion, etc.; mentally intoxicated. b excitable, frivolous.
3 tending to make one giddy.
--v.tr. & intr. (-ies, -ied) make or become giddy.
--adj. (giddier, giddiest)
1 having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall, stagger, or spin round.
2 a overexcited as a result of success, pleasurable emotion, etc.; mentally intoxicated. b excitable, frivolous.
3 tending to make one giddy.
--v.tr. & intr. (-ies, -ied) make or become giddy.
Derivative
giddily adv. giddiness n.
Etymology
OE gidig insane, lit. 'possessed by a god'
THESAURUS
giddy
addled, adrift, afloat, alternating, amorphous, babbling, beery, bemused, besotted, blind drunk, brainless, capricious, changeable, changeful, crapulent, crapulous, delirious, desultory, deviable, dizzy, drenched, drunk, drunken, eccentric, empty-headed, erratic, faint, far-gone, fast and loose, featherbrained, featherheaded, fickle, fitful, flickering, flighty, flitting, fluctuating, flustered, fluttery, fou, freakish, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, full, gaga, gay, giddy-brained, giddy-headed, giddy-pated, giddy-witted, glorious, happy, harebrain, harebrained, impetuous, impulsive, in liquor, incoherent, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, inebriate, inebriated, inebrious, infirm, intoxicated, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, jolly, light, light-headed, lightheaded, maudlin, mazy, mellow, mercurial, merry, moody, muddled, nappy, off, rambling, ranting, rattlebrained, rattleheaded, rattlepated, raving, reckless, reeling, restless, roving, scatterbrained, scramblebrained, shapeless, shatterbrained, shifting, shifty, shikker, shuffling, silly, skittish, sodden, sotted, spasmodic, spineless, swimming, thoughtless, tiddly, tipsy, turned around, unaccountable, uncertain, uncontrolled, undependable, under the influence, undisciplined, unfixed, unpredictable, unreliable, unrestrained, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, vacillating, vagrant, variable, vertiginous, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical, wishy-washy, witless, woozy, yeastyROGET THESAURUS
giddy
Irresolution
N irresolution, infirmity of purpose, indecision, indetermination, undetermination, unsettlement, uncertainty, demur, suspense, hesitating, hesitation, hesitancy, vacillation, changeableness, fluctuation, alternation, caprice, fickleness, levity, legerete, pliancy, weakness, timidity, cowardice, half measures, waverer, ass between two bundles of hay, shuttlecock, butterfly, wimp, doughface, irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted, undecided, unresolved, undetermined, shilly-shally, fidgety, tremulous, hesitating, off one's balance, at a loss, vacillating, unsteady, unsteadfast, fickle, without ballast, capricious, volatile, frothy, light, lightsome, light-minded, giddy, fast and loose, weak, feeble-minded, frail, timid, wimpish, wimpy, cowardly, dough-faced, facile, pliant, unable to say 'no', easy-going revocable, reversible, irresolutely, irresolved, irresolvedly, in faltering accents, off and on, from pillar to post, seesaw, Int, how happy could I be with either!.Caprice
N caprice, fancy, humor, whim, whimsy, whimsey, whimwham, crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade, wild-goose chase, capriciousness, kink, capricious, erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical, full of whims, maggoty, inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky, particular, humorsome, freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward, contrary, captious, arbitrary, unconformable, penny wise and pound foolish, fickle, frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile, by fits and starts, without rhyme or reason, nil fuit unquain sic inipar sibi, the deuce is in him.Unskillfulness
N unskillfulness, want of skill, incompetence, incompentency, inability, infelicity, indexterity, inexperience, disqualification, unproficiency, quackery, folly, stupidity indiscretion, thoughtlessness, sabotage, mismanagement, misconduct, impolicy, maladministration, misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasance, petticoat government, absence of rule, rule of thumb, bungling, failure, screw loose: too many cooks, blunder, etourderie gaucherie, act of folly, balourdise, botch, botchery, bad job, sad work, sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild- goose chase, bungler, fool, unskillful, inexpert, bungling, awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroit, left-handed, heavy-handed, slovenly, slatternly, gawky, adrift, at fault, inapt, unapt, inhabile, untractable, unteachable, giddy, inconsiderate, stupid inactive, incompetent, unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified, unfit, quackish, raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice, unaccustomed, unused, untrained &c, uninitiated, unconversant, shiftless, unstatesmanlike, unadvised, ill-advised, misadvised, ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted, unguided, misguided, misconducted, foolish, wild, infelicitous, penny wise and pound foolish, one's fingers being all thumbs, the right hand forgets its cunning, il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau, incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim, out of the frying pan into the fire, non omnia possumus omnes.Rashness
N rashness, temerity, want of caution, imprudence, indiscretion, overconfidence, presumption, audacity, precipitancy, precipitation, impetuosity, levity, foolhardihood, foolhardiness, heedlessness, thoughtlessness, carelessness, desperation, Quixotism, knight-errantry, fire eating, gaming, gambling, blind bargain, leap in the dark, leap of faith, fool's paradise, too many eggs in one basket, desperado, rashling, madcap, daredevil, Hotspur, fire eater, bully, bravo, Hector, scapegrace, enfant perdu, Don Quixote, knight-errant, Icarus, adventurer, gambler, gamester, dynamitard, boomer, rash, incautious, indiscreet, imprudent, improvident, temerarious, uncalculating, heedless, careless, without ballast, heels over head, head over heels, giddy, wanton, reckless, wild, madcap, desperate, devil-may-care, hot-blooded, hotheaded, hotbrained, headlong, headstrong, breakneck, foolhardy, harebrained, precipitate, impulsive, overconfident, overweening, venturesome, venturous, adventurous, Quixotic, fire eating, cavalier, janty, jaunty, free and easy, off one's guard, post haste, a corps perdu, hand over head, tete baissee, headforemost, happen what may, come what may, neck or nothing, the devil being in one, non semper temeritas est felix, paucis temeritas est bono multis malo.Inattention
N inattention, inconsideration, inconsiderateness, oversight, inadvertence, inadvertency, nonobservance, disregard, supineness, etourderie, want of thought, heedlessness, insouciance, abstraction, absence of mind, absorption of mind, preoccupation, distraction, reverie, brown study, deep musing, fit of abstraction, inattentive, unobservant, unmindful, heedless, unthinking, unheeding, undiscerning, inadvertent, mindless, regardless, respectless, listless, blind, deaf, bird-witted, hand over head, cursory, percursory, giddy-brained, scatter-brained, hare-brained, unreflective, unreflecting, ecervele, offhand, dizzy, muzzy, brainsick, giddy, giddy as a goose, wild, harum-scarum, rantipole, highflying, heedless, careless, inconsiderate, thoughtless, absent, abstracted, distrait, absentminded, lost, lost in thought, wrapped in thought, rapt, in the clouds, bemused, dreaming on other things, musing on other things, preoccupied, engrossed, daydreaming, in a reverie, off one's guard, napping, dreamy, caught napping, disconcerted, distracted, put out, inattentively, inadvertently, absent-mindedly, per incuriam, sub silentio, Int, stand at ease, stand easy!, the attention wanders, one's wits gone a woolgathering, one's wits gone a bird's nesting, it never entered into one's head, the mind running on other things, one's thoughts being elsewhere, had it been a bear it would have bitten you.Folly
N imbecility folly, want of intelligence &c, want of intellect, shadowness, silliness, foolishness, imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let, stupidity, stolidity, hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness, incompetence, one's weak side, not one's strong point, bias, infatuation, simplicity, puerility, babyhood, dotage, anility, second childishness, fatuity, idiocy, idiotism, driveling, folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit, sophistry, giddiness, eccentricity, extravagance, rashness, act of folly, unintelligent, unintellectual, unreasoning, mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless, halfbaked, having no head, not bright, inapprehensible, weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded, beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed, weak-minded, feeble-minded, dull minded, shallow minded, lack- brained, rattle-brained, rattle headed, half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle- pated, addle-brained, dim-sighted, short-sighted, thick-skulled, weak in the upper story, shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony, dull, dull as a beetle, stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish, asinine, inapt, prosaic, hebetudinous, childish, child-like, infantine, infantile, babyish, babish, puerile, anile, simple, old-womanish, fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling, blatant, babbling, vacant, sottish, bewildered, blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic, bovine, ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical, apish, simious, foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept, maudlin, narrow-minded, bigoted, giddy, rash, eccentric, foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised, mal entendu, inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical, extravagant, sleeveless, idle, pointless, useless, inexpedient, frivolous, Davus sum non, a fool's bolt is soon shot clitellae bovi sunt im, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, il n' a ni bouche ni eperon, the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.Insanity
N insanity, disordered reason, disordered intellect, diseased mind, unsound mind, abnormal mind, derangement, unsoundness, psychosis, neurosis, cognitive disorder, affective disorder, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, rabies, furor, mental alienation, aberration, paranoia, schizophrenia, dementation, dementia, demency, phrenitis, phrensy, frenzy, raving, incoherence, wandering, delirium, calenture of the brain, delusion, hallucination, lycanthropy, brain storm, vertigo, dizziness, swimming, sunstroke, coup de soleil, siriasis, fanaticism, infatuation, craze, oddity, eccentricity, twist, monomania (caprice), kleptodipsomania, hypochondriasis, melancholia, depression, clinical depression, severe depression, hysteria, amentia, screw loose, tile loose, slate loose, bee in one's bonnet, rats in the upper story, dotage, insane, mad, lunatic, loony, crazy, crazed, aliene, non compos mentis, not right, cracked, touched, bereft of reason, all possessed, unhinged, unsettled in one's mind, insensate, reasonless, beside oneself, demented, daft, phrenzied, frenzied, frenetic, possessed, possessed with a devil, deranged, maddened, moonstruck, shatterpated, mad-brained, scatter brained, shatter brained, crackbrained, touched, tetched, off one's head, maniacal, delirious, lightheaded, incoherent, rambling, doting, wandering, frantic, raving, stark staring mad, stark raving mad, wild-eyed, berserk, delusional, hallucinatory, corybantic, dithyrambic, rabid, giddy, vertiginous, wild, haggard, mazed, flighty, distracted, distraught, depressed, agitated, hyped up, bewildered, mad as a March hare, mad as a hatter, of unsound mind, touched in one's head, wrong in one's head, not right in one's head, not in one's right mind, not right in one's wits, upper story, out of one's mind, out of one's wits, out of one's skull, far gone, out of one's senses, out of one's wits, not in one's right mind, fanatical, infatuated, odd, eccentric, hypped, hyppish, spaced out, imbecile, silly, like one possessed, the mind having lost its balance, the reason under a cloud, tet exaltee, tet montee, ira furor brevis est, omnes stultos insanire.For further exploring for "giddy" in Webster Dictionary Online