GIDDY (giddied, giddier, giddiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: giddied    , giddier    , giddiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does giddy mean? 

• GIDDY (adjective)
  The adjective GIDDY has 2 senses:

1. having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling

2. lacking seriousness; given to frivolity

  Familiarity information: GIDDY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GIDDY (adjective)

Comparative: giddier   
Superlative: giddiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling

Synonyms:

dizzy; giddy; vertiginous; woozy

Context example:

a vertiginous climb up the face of the cliff

Similar:

ill; sick (affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function)

Derivation:

giddiness (a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lacking seriousness; given to frivolity

Synonyms:

airheaded; dizzy; empty-headed; featherbrained; giddy; light-headed; lightheaded; silly

Context example:

silly giggles

Similar:

frivolous (not serious in content or attitude or behavior)

Derivation:

giddiness (an impulsive scatterbrained manner)

 Context examples 

Harrison, clinging on, made the giddy rush through the air.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I was still giddy with the shock of my mother's death, and in a kind of stunned state as to all tributary things.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I am so giddy and thoughtless! Do excuse me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Your aspects are so special for career success you may be giddy when you see all that happens in November and December—it’s your time to shine.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

But she was too ignorant and giddy for respect, and he had never loved her.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The long sweep of green water roaring forever down, and the thick flickering curtain of spray hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl and clamour.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And I had hardly moved before the boat, giving up at once her gentle dancing movement, ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy, and struck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the next wave.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Mrs. Jennings, with a thoroughly good-humoured concern for its cause, admitted the excuse most readily, and Elinor, after seeing her safe off, returned to Marianne, whom she found attempting to rise from the bed, and whom she reached just in time to prevent her from falling on the floor, faint and giddy from a long want of proper rest and food; for it was many days since she had any appetite, and many nights since she had really slept; and now, when her mind was no longer supported by the fever of suspense, the consequence of all this was felt in an aching head, a weakened stomach, and a general nervous faintness.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I got up at eight, a little giddy from the shortness of my night's rest, and was ready for him before the appointed time.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I did, and I could not quite comprehend it: it made me giddy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)