Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Eccentric or crazy.
  • adjective Ludicrously odd, unlikely, or inappropriate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Tortuous, like the thread or motion of a screw: as, a screwy motion.
  • Exacting; close; stingy; mean; oppressive.
  • Worn out; worthless.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective informal Crazy; silly; ridiculous; insane; demented; unreasonable.
  • adjective archaic, informal Tipsy; slightly drunk.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not behaving normally

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1820, original meaning “tipsy, slightly drunk;” meaning “crazy, ridiculous” first recorded 1887.

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Examples

  • Things I Find Important: Just plain screwy skip to main | skip to sidebar

    Just plain screwy Dr. Lisa 2006

  • Besides that, he's a rookie who, according to Fox, irons the bill of his cap, and how screwy is that?

    Now, about those Series predictions ... 2006

  • We hit that buoy -- I mean I thought we were all headed to Davy Jones 'locker right there and then they have this kind of screwy rule in sailboat racing where if you hit the buoy, you can go back and surround it three times.

    CNN Transcript Aug 28, 2009 2009

  • I don't know his theology and it sounds as if it might be kind of screwy, but one way or the other, he's a scholar and and a gentleman, a science fiction writer and a first-rate Christian apologist.

    D. G. D., where are you? 2007

  • It's kind of screwy to do that if it doesn't get people to the post but just gives them a little experience of exclusion.

    Archive 2006-01-01 Ann Althouse 2006

  • It all sounds a little "screwy" to me too, but not just because the witness accounts sound as if the marshalls may have overreacted.

    Hullabaloo 2005

  • It all sounds a little "screwy" to me too, but not just because the witness accounts sound as if the marshalls may have overreacted.

    Hullabaloo 2005

  • That's not all the time because I work kind of screwy hours, sometimes all night and then off the next day, so when I'm home at that time of day I listen, if I'm awake.

    Murder Can Be Fun Brown, Fredric, 1906-1972 1948

  • If phase 3, our present system, seems "screwy" to you, it should.

    PLIGG_Visual_Name - PLIGG_Visual_RSS_All 2010

  • If phase 3, our present system, seems "screwy" to you, it should.

    PLIGG_Visual_Name - PLIGG_Visual_RSS_All 2010

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  • Citation on Queer Street.

    June 30, 2012