as in demented
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Recent Examples of fey
One of the actors, Mihir Kumar, leads the charge in a monologue that the program notes is drawn from his own life comparing that photo of George to a similarly fey one of himself as a child (both are projected onto a screen at the center of the stage).
—
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 18 June 2025
Sharp cheekbones, Pan-like movements that were more fey than androgynous.
—Elizabeth Winder, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2023
Not that there was anything fey or fanciful about Austen’s fashion sense: Davidson stresses that Austen’s wardrobe was a hardworking affair.
—Kathryn Hughes, The New York Review of Books, 9 Mar. 2023
Back at work, she is eyed by her co-workers, the wonderfully fey Shane (Griffin Matthews) and the middle-aged worrier Megan (the terrific Rosie Perez).
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2020
His business rivals include the louche Chinese gangster Dry Eye (Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding) and a drab little ferret of a man called Matthew (Succession star Jeremy Strong, who delivers every line in a sort of strange, fey deadpan).
—Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 23 Jan. 2020
But on the biographical front, the popular image of Dickinson as a fragile, fey, romantically disappointed recluse has been harder to shake.
—Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times, 30 Oct. 2019
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 18 June 2025
Sharp cheekbones, Pan-like movements that were more fey than androgynous.
—Elizabeth Winder, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2023
Not that there was anything fey or fanciful about Austen’s fashion sense: Davidson stresses that Austen’s wardrobe was a hardworking affair.
—Kathryn Hughes, The New York Review of Books, 9 Mar. 2023
Back at work, she is eyed by her co-workers, the wonderfully fey Shane (Griffin Matthews) and the middle-aged worrier Megan (the terrific Rosie Perez).
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2020
His business rivals include the louche Chinese gangster Dry Eye (Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding) and a drab little ferret of a man called Matthew (Succession star Jeremy Strong, who delivers every line in a sort of strange, fey deadpan).
—Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 23 Jan. 2020
But on the biographical front, the popular image of Dickinson as a fragile, fey, romantically disappointed recluse has been harder to shake.
—Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times, 30 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fey
Adjective
-
There are bodily fluids, jeering crowds, and demonic Punch and Judy puppets applauding through the chaos, giving the scene the air of a demented fairy tale.—
Radhika Seth,
Vogue,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Last year’s Venice Film Festival premiered Yorgos Lanthimos’s demented sci-fi-adjacent drama Bugonia and Gus Van Sant’s crime thriller Dead Man’s Wire, while at the same time the Toronto International Film Festival was premiering Romain Gavras’s comic-epic Sacrifice.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The musical in question is totally nuts, a kind of conspiracist take on September 11th, complete with loopy songs.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
31 Jan. 2026
-
The tablecloth was a vibrant bubblegum pink; the menus, hand-written in loopy calligraphy; the stately centerpiece eschewed for a smattering of slim burgundy taper candles pierced ceremoniously through seasonally appropriate pomegranates.—
Elly Leavitt,
Vogue,
19 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
But providers might not have enough information available to make a correct diagnosis; an emergency room doctor treating someone experiencing a psychotic episode likely doesn’t have the capacity to know if their diagnosis should be schizophrenia, bipolar I or something else.—
Allison Parshall,
Scientific American,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Is this lucid state only temporary based on the recent anti-psychotic meds he was given by Kelson?—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
For those unfamiliar with him, Piëch was an eccentric and autocratic engineering mastermind responsible for the original Audi Quattro and the modern VW Beetle.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
6 Feb. 2026
-
All these eccentric titles befit their elusive nature.—
Joseph Howlett,
Scientific American,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Colloquial slang in reverence to the most maniacal competitors.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
8 Feb. 2026
-
Clearly, a straight line can be drawn from Lola to Moira Rose, the maniacal former soap-opera star, wig enthusiast, and erratic wife/mom on Schitt’s Creek (for which Catherine won an Emmy and a Golden Globe).—
Merrill Markoe,
Rolling Stone,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
But his heart never leaves these people, and the experience of reading him is of a singular, wry, unstinting sympathy especially for characters at their most blockheaded or deranged.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
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The film follows Eileen who, reeling from a breakup, enrols in an intense gym class run by a charismatic but deranged coach.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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People wanted to wear clothes at the cutting edge, which gave dotty fabrics woven by machine a natural fanbase among the society ladies who could afford them.—
Natalie Hammond,
CNN Money,
25 Aug. 2025
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Jones, Redgrave, and an unrecognizable Margot Kidder as their dotty landlady bravely expose their vulnerability.—
Armond White,
National Review,
25 June 2025
Adjective
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No one was better than O’Hara at playing people at the end of their ropes or legends in their own unbalanced minds.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Flat roofs with parapets (side walls), stepped roofs, saw-tooth roofs, and roofs with chimneys and other obstructions on top can collect snow in an unbalanced manner, the agency said.—
Bailey Allen,
The Providence Journal,
28 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fey.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fey. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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