Word.ws English Dictionary

ostrichy

ostrichy adjective: resembling or characteristic of an ostrich.

Adjective

ostrichy (comparative more ostrichy, superlative most ostrichy)

  1. Resembling or characteristic of an ostrich.
    • Once upon a time there was an ostrich who, though very ostrichy, was even more of an egoist.1914 July 22, “Once upon a Time. Transmigration.”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume CXLVII, London: […] the Office, […], page 85
    • He nodded and gave us both a kind of ostrichy smile.1982, Nancy Garden, Annie on My Mind, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 18
  2. Characteristic of one who buries one’s head in the sand (like in popular depictions of ostriches).
    • In the latter case we get a very ostrichy metaphysics: an attempt to solve a problem by denying its existence.1923, A. R. Wadia, “Pragmatic Idealism”, in Contemporary Indian Philosophy, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, […], published 1958, page 633
    • To purposely not identify them because the result might be somewhat overwhelming is an “ostrichy” response to say the least.1980, L. R. Gay, Educational Evaluation and Measurement: Competencies for Analysis and Application, Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., →ISBN, page 63

Examples of ostrichy in a sentence

  • He beamed down at her from his ostrichy height.1988, Scott Russell Sanders, The Engineer of Beasts, New York, N.Y.: Orchard Books, →ISBN, page 102:
  • This one went all on its hind legs, its long thin tail stretched out behind it for balance: it went with a long-legged ostrichy gait that Dairine suspected could turn into an incredible sprint.1990, Diane Duane, High Wizardry, Yearling Books, published 1992, →ISBN, page 106:
  • Stuffing that head of his into the sand – his ostrichy, beaky face.2011, Zannah Kearns, No Use Crying, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, published 2012, →ISBN:
  • He flapped out his arms, pretending they were ostrich wings, stuck out his bottom, and waddled around, bobbing his head in a gifted impression of Lightfoot’s ostrichy gait.2017, Julie Berry, The Emperor’s Ostrich, New York, N.Y.: Roaring Brook Press, →ISBN, pages 259–260:

Synonyms of ostrichy

Forms of ostrichy

comparativemore ostrichy
superlativemost ostrichy

Origin of ostrichy

From ostrich + -y.

Questions about ostrichy

What does ostrichy mean?
Ostrichy means resembling or characteristic of an ostrich.
How do you use ostrichy in a sentence?
He beamed down at her from his ostrichy height.
What part of speech is ostrichy?
Ostrichy is an adjective.

Words near ostrichy in the dictionary

  1. ostrichize
  2. ostrichized
  3. ostrichizes
  4. ostrichizing
  5. ostrichlike
  6. ostrichy
  7. ostricization
  8. ostricize
  9. Ostricourt
  10. ostridge
  11. ostridges

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ostrichy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ostrichy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ostrichy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.