squirrelly
UK/ˈskwɪɹəli//ˈskwɝli/
squirrelly adjective: eccentric.
Adjective
squirrelly (comparative squirrellier or more squirrelly, superlative squirrelliest or most squirrelly)
- Eccentric.
- Mom can act a bit squirrelly sometimes, and I swear it's usually worse after sunset.
- Near-synonyms: batty, nuts, nutty; see also Thesaurus:eccentric, Thesaurus:insane
- Unpredictable or jumpy.
- "This aircraft seems to be acting a bit squirrelly," the pilot complained uneasily to his copilot.
- "We got bumped. We got thumped," an American pilot was heard saying. A U.S. pilot also reported that a Chinese plane was "squirrely. Not real steady."2001 April 13, “Rumsfeld Hits China's 'Aggressive' Pattern”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- Literally so.
- Some of these lemurs seem almost squirrelly.
Examples of squirrelly in a sentence
- It was two months' rent to me and nothing but some squirrelly alien kitsch-fetish to Craphound.1998, Cory Doctorow, Craphound:
- Buscemi relished the chance to portray the squirrelly, volatile crook Carl Showalter, a figure that came together only once the actor got dressed.2021 June 21, Charles Bramesco, “‘So, does it hold up?’: Fargo’s stars and co-creator on its 25th anniversary”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- I hope it isn’t going to be squirrelly or weird about quotes.2023 September 5, Elif Batuman, “Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
Synonyms of squirrelly
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of squirrelly
| comparative | squirrellier |
|---|---|
| comparative | more squirrelly |
| superlative | squirrelliest |
| superlative | most squirrelly |
| alternative form | squirrely |
Origin of squirrelly
From squirrel + -ly, 1925. Presumably from the erratic movement of squirrels, or by analogy with nuts (“insane”).
Words formed from squirrelly
Words that rhyme with squirrelly
Questions about squirrelly
- What does squirrelly mean?
- Squirrelly means eccentric.
- How do you use squirrelly in a sentence?
- It was two months' rent to me and nothing but some squirrelly alien kitsch-fetish to Craphound.
- What part of speech is squirrelly?
- Squirrelly is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce squirrelly?
- Squirrelly is pronounced /ˈskwɝli/ (US).
Words near squirrelly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: squirrelly (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-squirrelly.wav.
Cite this entry: “squirrelly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/squirrelly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.