cockamamie
1
9.9
- adjective
- /ˈkɑːkəˌmeɪmi/
- Informal
:
absurdo
- And he has a delightfully cockamamie plan for making that happen.
- a cockamamie idea
They've heard him pitch cockamamie ideas before.
- They've heard him pitch cockamamie ideas before.
- So in this weird way, on the back of death row and B blog, the guards came up with this cockamamie scheme to have Gladiator day, man.
Examples
-
She dismissed the proposal as utterly cockamamie and far-fetched.
-
I think it was a totally cockamamie scheme.
Academic text (1997) -
They've heard him pitch cockamamie ideas before.
-
They came up with some fairly cockamamie theories because they didn't have a lot of scientific modern approaches to it.
-
Many people consider his plan to be a cockamamie idea that will never work.
-
The politician's cockamamie claims about the economy drew laughter from the audience.
Synonyms
∞
1.6
Very silly or unreasonable in a way that makes people laugh
288
4.4
So silly or unreasonable that it makes no sense
100
6.0
Very silly and unreasonable so it makes people laugh
72
7.3
Very silly and unreasonable so it seems laughable
4
8.9
A foolish idea or plan that will not work
Very silly and not likely to be true
Very silly in a way that makes people laugh
Antonyms
How Ridiculous
Surface Forms
Etymology
Cockamamie probably grew in American English as a playful, made-up word for something silly. One idea links it to the phrase cock-and-bull, used for a 'nonsense' story, so imagine a silly tale about a rooster and a bull to remember that cockamamie means 'ridiculous' or 'absurd'.