😂 Amusing 🤔 Strange 📖 An amusing story 🕵️ Suspicious

funny

7 4.1

Strange in a way that makes you think something is wrong

adjective
/ˈfʌni/

: sospechoso

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Greta giving me a funny look.
a funny thing
funny-looking

Examples

The situation is, of course, far from funny, either for the Swedes or for their fellow Baltic Sea residents.

Academic text (2015)
There's something funny about the way he keeps avoiding my questions.
Work and everything has a funny way of working itself out.
"You know, the funny thing is, he looked a lot like the Doctor."

Fiction book (1990)
OK, so there's something funny about these claims.
I suppose I shouldn't complain, but it's a funny way to do business, if you ask me.

Fiction book (1990)
Something funny's going on.

The Front Page (1974)
Its news summaries and columns are the product of a bitterly funny, mostly anonymous cadre of authors.

Academic text (2011)
I have a funny feeling that something unexpected is going to happen today.
She noticed a few funny signs that suggested the situation wasn't as it seemed.

Synonyms

weird

vsfunny

Informal

∞ 3.2

Strange or unusual in a way that makes people feel uncomfortable

typically implies suspicion or wrongness rather than being merely extremely odd

strange

vsfunny

∞ 2.3

Unusual and slightly odd in a way you cannot easily understand

also implies something is wrong or deceptive rather than just unusual or odd

odd

vsfunny

878 1.0

Different from what is normal or expected

often also makes you think someone is dishonest or that problems are hidden

suspicious

vsfunny

261 2.7

Causing doubt because it seems wrong or illegal

focuses more on odd appearance or uncertainty rather than clear wrongdoing

shady

vsfunny

Informal

87 5.5

Not honest and likely to do illegal things

suggests weirdness or uncertainty rather than definite illegal or immoral activity

suspect

vsfunny

78 5.3

Seen as probably dishonest or not trustworthy

emphasizes odd or misleading appearance rather than being openly judged dishonest

fishy

vsfunny

45 4.4

Seeming dishonest and making people feel suspicious

also covers merely oddness or strangeness rather than only seeming dishonest

Antonyms

trustworthy

87 2.1

A person or thing you can depend on to be honest

Idioms

not being funny

2 9.6

Saying this shows you are serious and not joking

to tickle someone's funny bone

Informal

1 6.9

To make someone laugh or feel amused

to hit my funny bone

Informal

1 8.3

To make someone laugh a lot

Compounds

funny story

60 1.9

A short story that makes people laugh

funny joke

29 1.0

A short story or remark that makes people laugh

funny moment

9 1.0

A short time when something makes people laugh

funny money

6 8.9

Fake bills or coins that people do not accept as real money

funny farm

Slur

4 9.9

A hospital for people with serious mental health problems

funny bone

4 3.7

The spot on the elbow that makes a sharp, tingling pain when hit

funny paper

Archaic

3 5.1

A section of a newspaper with comic strips and cartoons

funny meme

Texting

1 3.6

A picture or short video with a joke that people share online

funny house

Slur

1 9.9

A rude slang name for a hospital for people with mental illness

bed-wettingly funny

Informal

9.9

So funny that you laugh a lot and cannot stop

funny phiz

Archaic

9.9

A face you make to make people laugh

How Suspicious

shady

Informal

87 5.5

suspicious

261 2.7

funny

7 4.1

fishy

45 4.4

Surface Forms

funny positive

funnier comparative

funniest superlative

Morphology

funny = fun (opaque) = fun + y

The 'suspicious' sense (e.g., 'that's funny') is an idiomatic extension not directly inferable from 'fun', so learners who know 'fun' are unlikely to predict this meaning.

Etymology

Funny meaning 'suspicious' also links to fun as a 'trick'—if you think someone may be trying to fool you, things seem 'funny' or 'not right'. So calling something funny can mean it feels off or dishonest.