Meanings
comparative clownier · superlative clowniest
- informalActing in a clownlike manner.
- informalResembling or characteristic of a clown.
He is smiling at me, and he offers me a piece of the snack thing he is eating which is some kind of orange cracker with orange cheese in it that makes his lips and mouth look like he used glowing clowny paint.
2011, William R. Brown, chapter 18, in Nika: The Adventures of a (Not So) Dumb Polish Girl, [Charleston, S.C.]: [CreateSpace], published February 2012, →ISBN, page 1962 more examples
Second clown has a basecap (pattern W-6); sew craft yarn hair around lower edge. Clowny face paint. Huge bow under chin: Cut it from cardboard, paint with bright polkadots, or glue fabric on it; elastic strap around neck. Baggy pants (pattern M-1); plastic tube or stiff wire through waist casing.
1986, Leila Albala, “Clowns”, in Easy Halloween Costumes for Children, 2nd edition, Chambly, Que.: ALPEL, →ISBN, page 60When Meredith was small he had a cloth bear with a painted clowny face, and it got too ratty for words, and I sent it to the cleaners, and it came back blank, so I got Tilman Furness, he did those smashingly clever illustrations for children’s books, he was a bit of a flit but he was the absolute tops in his line, to paint a new face on it, […]
1990, John Hersey, “Fling”, in Fling and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 54
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with clowny
All rhymes →Cite this entry
clowny. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clowny
“clowny.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clowny. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clowny,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clowny.
Source: clowny on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.