Meaning & use
giddy
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Feeling dizzy and unsteady, as if you might fall.
Grammar: Usually follows a linking verb: I felt giddy after standing up too fast.
Patterns
- feel giddy
- giddy from something
I felt giddy after spinning around on the playground ride.
The climb to the top left him giddy from the thin air.
adjectivecomparable
Excited and playfully silly, often in a way that makes it hard to behave seriously.
Grammar: Often followed by with: giddy with excitement.
Patterns
- giddy with something
- giddy about something
The students were giddy with excitement on the last day of school.
She gave a giddy laugh and hugged her sister.
Word forms
| comparative | giddier |
|---|---|
| superlative | giddiest |
Common combinations
- giddy with excitement
- The kids were giddy with excitement on Christmas morning.
- feel giddy
- I always feel giddy on tall bridges.
- giddy laughter
- Giddy laughter came from the back seat.
- giddy heights
- The company reached giddy heights of success.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dizzy
- Dizzy is the plainer word for the physical spinning feeling and is rarely used for happy excitement.
- light-headed
- Light-headed describes a faint, floaty feeling and does not suggest silliness.
- euphoric
- Euphoric is stronger and more formal, and it does not suggest silliness or a physical effect.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: giddy or gaudy?
giddy vs gaudy
Gaudy means showy and in poor taste; it has nothing to do with dizziness or excitement.
Practice
After the roller coaster, Jun felt so ______ that he had to sit down for a few minutes.
Choose one answer.
Giddy fits the dizzy, unsteady feeling after a ride. The other options do not describe a physical sensation of this kind.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “giddy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.