as in absurd
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
she's always off on some screwball plan
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
a screwball who liked to save lint and bits of string
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of screwball
A.a. Dowd, Chron, 12 May 2023
Each event becomes screwball one-act with different chaos ensembles.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2023
Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025
License Jason Lee to turn loose his screwball side.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Adjective
Here, Johnson applies a screwball procedural framework to a true story of tech-world boom and bust, building his movie on a clash of values and personalities.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 12 May 2023
Each event becomes screwball one-act with different chaos ensembles.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2023
Noun
Mostly, though, you are arrested by the combativeness of the characters’ screwball banter, much of which is devoted to the explication of clashing political ideologies.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025
License Jason Lee to turn loose his screwball side.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screwball
Recent Examples of Synonyms for screwball
Adjective
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From the vantage point of 2025, this appears as absurd as suggesting that women’s soccer matches should be 70 minutes instead of 90, the same as in the men’s game.—
Charlie Eccleshare,
New York Times,
12 July 2025
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The French super powerhouse has taken teams part since winning the UEFA Champions League crown on May 24, outscoring its foes by an absurd 21-1 margin.—
Michael Lewis,
Forbes.com,
12 July 2025
Noun
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Ra’s decades-long adherence to this personal mythology, along with his air of serene bemusement and his extravagant robes and headdresses, led to his popular image as a colorful eccentric.—
Ekow Eshun
July 11,
Literary Hub,
11 July 2025
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Other characters include outcasts, visionaries and eccentrics — all of whom live on the margins as unseen — a former priest, a girl trapped in working her family’s candy stand, a woman who learned preaching from her brother and is a caretaker for her dying housemate.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
18 May 2025
Adjective
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One of Netflix’s big movie plays for July is the sequel to its very silly but very fun action fantasy film The Old Guard.—
Abid Rahman,
HollywoodReporter,
1 July 2025
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None of that, however, excuses the silly and juvenile behavior of the Assembly’s majority Democrats last week when the chamber took up a resolution commemorating Pride month.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Los Angeles Times,
29 June 2025
Noun
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Actor Tom Welling played Ultraman in live-action form on a 2010 episode of Smallville, which introduced the character as Clark Luthor of Earth-Two.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
14 July 2025
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The nonprofit group behind the Sesame Street character quickly sought to regain control of the account and deleted the comments.—
Frank Witsil,
Freep.com,
14 July 2025
Adjective
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Instead, the series seems determined to prove that age is just a number by forcing its leads, now including Choudhury and Parker, to act as if 50 is the new (and very stupid) 30.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
4 July 2025
-
Jurassic Park, based on the Michael Crichton best-seller, is an evolutionary joke: Man, the master of the universe, has become mere flesh, consumed by animals allegedly too stupid to survive.—
David Denby,
Vulture,
3 July 2025
Noun
-
The Annihilation of Fish, directed by Charles Burnett and released in 1999 and now newly restored by Kino Lorber, features an oddball, interracial romance played by the late actors James Earl Jones as Obadiah Fish and Lynn Redgrave as Poinsettia Cummings.—
Armond White,
National Review,
25 June 2025
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The evergreen revolving door of oddballs and cynics populating that Manhattan arraignment court in the wee hours of the night and at the center of it all a workplace family that will forever be... until next time.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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Underestimating China would be a grave error, but underestimating the United States would be equally foolish.—
Damien Ma,
Foreign Affairs,
1 July 2025
-
Gi-hun himself proved a tough protagonist to root for when the show began, as a foolish gambling addict hoping to reconnect with his family but who becomes obsessed with the games anyway.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
27 June 2025
Noun
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The new lodge sat on the foundation of the former and used many of the original's materials, but was scaled back in its design, removing a second story and observation tower that were part of the original, according to the National Park Service.—
Perry Vandell,
AZCentral.com,
13 July 2025
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To appreciate the essence of the 911, one really has to go back to the original.—
Robert Ross,
Robb Report,
11 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Screwball.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/screwball. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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