Meanings
plural doozies · alternative doozer · alternative doozie · alternative duesey · alternative duesy
- UScolloquialSomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense.
Most of the test was easy, but the last question was a doozy.
2 more examples
"Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?" It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes.
1961, Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionLike the em unit, the rem unit is based on declared font size. The difference — and it’s a doozy — is that whereas em is calculated using the font size of the element to which it’s applied, rem is always calculated using the root element.
2017, Eric A Meyer, Estelle Weyl, CSS: The Definitive Guide: Visual Presentation for the Web, Kindle edition, O'Reilly Media, page 126Synonyms: lulu
comparative doozier · superlative dooziest · alternative doozer · alternative doozie · alternative duesey · alternative duesy
- USdatednot comparableslangusuallyOf high quality; remarkable; excellent.First known use 1903
The hydra wasn't the doozy? How could it not be the doozy? What could be doozier than that?
2011, “Feeling Pinkie Keen”, in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic1 more example
As soon as the races were billed he began to evolve Schemes — one Doozy scheme followed the other...
1903, Alfred Leon Kleberg, Slang Fables from Afar, page 83 - USdatednot comparableslangusuallySporty, ostentatious, flashy.First known use 1911
Who was that doozy fellow I saw you with?
1917, Elsie Warnock, “Terms of approbation and eulogy in American dialect speech”, in Dialect Notes, volume IV, page 211 more example
Sweetie, do let me show you the dooziest little afternoon frock that Poiret designed for me in Paris.
1920, Jane Barrett, “English review”, in High School Life, volume 21, page 531
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense.
Origin
- Polishduży
- Englishdoozy
Unknown. First appearance 1903. Perhaps from daisy (“the flower”) (Rudyard Kipling used daisy in this sense) or the name of Italian actress Eleonora Duse. The automobile manufacturer Duesenberg is often erroneously cited as the origin, but the word existed more than a decade earlier. Alternatively, possibly from Polish duży, but this is chronologically unlikely and not attested in period sources.
More words from Polish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech praštěný
- praštěnýextraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
French c'est quelque chose
- c'est quelque chosesomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
German Prachtexemplar, starkes Stück
- Prachtexemplarsomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- starkes Stücksomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- Hammersomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- bemerkenswertextraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- extraordinärextraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- außergewöhnlichextraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
Russian засада
- засада (zasada)something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
Spanish primor, maravilla
- primorsomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- maravillasomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- menuda situaciónsomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- menuda cosasomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- asuntillosomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- asuntejosomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- ser la reocasomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- ser la reperasomething that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
- menudoextraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with doozy
All rhymes →Cite this entry
doozy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doozy
“doozy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doozy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “doozy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doozy.
Source: doozy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.