funny

 
Pronunciation: /ˈfʌni/

adjective (funnier, funniest)

  • 1causing laughter or amusement; humorous: a funny story the play is hilariously funny
  • [predic., with negative] informal used to emphasize that something is unpleasant or wrong and should be regarded seriously or avoided: stealing other people’s work isn’t funny
  • 2difficult to explain or understand; strange or curious: I had a funny feeling you’d be around
  • unusual, especially in such a way as to arouse suspicion: there was something funny going on
  • informal (of a person or part of the body) not in wholly good health or order; slightly ill: my eyes go all funny after a bit
  • British informal slightly deranged or eccentric: I heard she’d gone a bit funny

noun

  • (funnies) informal amusing jokes: the training courses usually produced a good crop of funnies
  • North American the comic strips in newspapers: I read the sports page, funnies, and editorial

Phrases

funny ha-ha (or funny peculiar)

informal amusing (or strange): used to distinguish the two main senses of ‘funny’: ‘Funny ha-ha,’ Robbie said, ‘or funny peculiar?’
[coined by Ian Hay in his novel Housemaster (1936)]

I'm not being funny, but ——

informal used before a statement or suggestion to point out that it is serious, however facetious or strange it may seem: I’m not being funny but I haven’t got all day

see the funny side (of something)

appreciate the humorous aspect of a situation or experience: fortunately, the patient saw the funny side of the situation

(oh) very funny!

informal used ironically to indicate that a speaker does not share another’s joke or amusement: ‘D’yeh want a celery choc ice?’ ‘Very funny, I don’t think.’

Derivatives

funniness

noun