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
Elaina Patton, IndieWire, 3 Dec. 2025
The show mostly relies on an on-the-nose screwball bigotry.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2025
Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Dec. 2025
Jay decides to take all of them with him on a European trip in pursuit of his daughter, who’s headed to a jazz festival, as the film turns into a screwball set piece on a train.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Adjective
Meanwhile, McKenzie and Radcliffe share a winsome screwball chemistry, literally falling over themselves and each other to profess their love.
—Elaina Patton, IndieWire, 3 Dec. 2025
The show mostly relies on an on-the-nose screwball bigotry.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2025
Noun
Get Smart alum Barbara Feldon is perfectly pitched to the movie's screwball sensibilities, keeping pace with Van Dyke's articulate thief and adding a welcome dash of romance to this holiday heist.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Dec. 2025
Jay decides to take all of them with him on a European trip in pursuit of his daughter, who’s headed to a jazz festival, as the film turns into a screwball set piece on a train.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for screwball
Adjective
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Don’t feel silly asking at the ski shop.—
Moira McCarthy,
Boston Herald,
11 Feb. 2026
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Walker offers this diagnosis himself, leeringly dismissing Pearl as a silly mommy, awash with hormones, mildly and minorly hysterical.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Catherine O’Hara portrayed ridiculous eccentrics with equal parts hilarity and humanity.—
The Week US,
TheWeek,
10 Feb. 2026
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Greg Brown, the original guitarist and co-founding member of ’90s alt-rock eccentrics Cake, has died.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Straight men, in particular, are only talked about, kept in the background, or appearing as authority figures trying to uphold absurd laws and traditions.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
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Pepsi’s chart is absurd and someone’s going to look stupid when the momentum fades.—
Josh Brown,Sean Russo,
CNBC,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The renegade baseball general manager in Moneyball, for instance, was later played by Brad Pitt, while the characters in The Big Short were portrayed by Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Pitt again, among others.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
5 Feb. 2026
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The space’s custom art was created by Amazonian artist Winny Tapajós, portraying a mischievous garden scene full of whimsical characters.—
Devorah Lev-Tov,
Robb Report,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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But maybe Johnson isn’t stupid.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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Such as the one where the candidate remarked that some white rural Americans were stupid and racist.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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As will anyone who isn’t a total oddball.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
6 Feb. 2026
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Shi’s bottle list encompasses an idiosyncratic mix of classics and oddballs, including stroppy Austrian natural whites alongside multi-thousand-dollar Burgundies, funky low-intervention oranges from Greece, a few bottles from the Japanese winery Coco Farm.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Counting on one of the league’s most expensive talents to play meaningful minutes from here on out at his age with a track record like that is nearly as foolish as Nico trading a perennial MVP candidate at 26.—
Kevin Sherrington
Feb. 4,
Dallas Morning News,
4 Feb. 2026
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The lesson isn’t that NBA teams are reckless or foolish.—
Spencer Harrison,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Last week, the wind-power green scam artists were back in federal court, arguing to be permitted to keep squandering billions more on those insane offshore windmills that produce next to no energy, but plenty of pollution.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
1 Feb. 2026
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That’s the best reaction to these stupid, insane men ruling the world now and trying to grab and dominate the world.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Screwball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/screwball. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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