giddy
/ˈɡɪdi
/adjective (giddier, giddiest)
1Having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall or stagger; dizzy: Luke felt almost giddy with relief...
- She was giddy with delight and has now fallen head over heels for his feline charms.
- It's a mildly light-headed, giddy sensation that starts in the chest and spreads out through the body and along the limbs.
- They are giddy with jetlag and an unspecified number of rum swizzles (an evening ritual).
Synonyms
dizzy, light-headed, faint, weak, weak at the knees, unsteady, shaky, wobbly, off balance;
reeling, staggering, tottering, teetering
informal woozy, with legs like jelly, with rubbery legs
rare vertiginous
1.1Disorientating and alarming, but exciting: her giddy rise to power...
- We will wait to see whether he ever rises to those giddy heights.
- There are obvious logistical problems involved in protesting outside such a facility, and it was clear from the outset that the protest was not going to reach the giddy heights of previous campaigns.
- In the meantime, I've discovered that the book has its own website, which I guess is a mark of it reaching the giddy heights of serious social commentary for the new millennium.
1.2Excitable and frivolous: Isobel’s giddy young sister-in-law...
- I'm giddy as a young girl in a field, and a little anxious.
- Just as Christy was replacing the phone on the base, Carmen came tearing into the room, giddy as a young schoolgirl, and grabbed Christy's hand.
- Queen Rosalind peered across the distance of the causeway towards the horizon with the giddy enthusiasm of a young maid about to receive a precious, long anticipated, gift.
Synonyms
flighty, silly, frivolous, skittish, irresponsible, flippant, whimsical, capricious, light-minded, feather-brained, scatterbrained, scatty;
careless, thoughtless, heedless, carefree, insouciant
informal dippy, dopey, batty, dotty, nutty
British informal dappy
North American informal ditzy
verb (giddies, giddying, giddied) [with object]
Make (someone) feel excited to the point of disorientation.You should just sit back and enjoy it, but I feel slightly giddied by it....
- Harry was always giddying me too - to loosen up, to see the bigger picture, to just be my total, fabulous, faerie self.
- Huge aerial motorways sweep between giddying skyscrapers.
Phrases
my giddy aunt!
play the giddy goat
Derivatives
giddily
/ adverb ...- I have spent two days feeling giddily motivated and productive.
- John laughed giddily and stood up to try and catch the snowflakes in his mouth.
- Newly and giddily in love, we were too stubborn to let the weather spoil our plans for the day.
Origin
Old English gidig 'insane', literally 'possessed by a god', from the base of God. Current senses date from late Middle English.