Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Chiefly British Slang Unstylish, clichéd, or outmoded.
- v. Chiefly British Slang To fool around or go about: "naffing about in a tutu” ( Suzanne Lowry).
- naff off Used in the imperative as a signal of angry dismissal.
Wiktionary
- adj. UK slang In poor taste.
- adj. Polari Bad; tasteless.
- adj. UK slang Poorly thought out, not workable, or otherwise not very good.
- adj. Polari Heterosexual.
Etymologies
- Unknown (Wiktionary)
- Possibly of dialectal origin.Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Somehow tying the format down to Earth, with the threesome of Brigadier, Liz and Doctor, must have prevented the writer (s) from turning in naff space opera tales.”
“Yes, it was a bit naff, and isn't using that word naff almost a naff-ness in itself these days?”
“After that I felt kind of naff so we showered and came home to rest.”
“If they did, and found “Gaudi’s modernist masterpiece” there, they would call it naff.”
“I first saw it as a preview in an issue of Yen Plus and my initial thoughts were "naff".”
“Okay, I have no idea what "naff" is supposed to mean.”
“London, Nov 15: People who dismissed fake Christmas trees as 'naff' will now have to eat up their own words, for a department store in London is now selling "the most realistic fake tree ever" and making quite a fortune out of it.”
“It looks like a neutered, naff, bland, late 90s, crummy Bourne Identity ripoff.”
'The Prisoner' trailer: Ian McKellen makes it all better | EW.com
“The main story was a bit naff but it's at least feels like a good old fashioned Romero zombie film which is more than I can say for 'Diary'.”
“I was apprehensive about my imagination being lacking or my story being naff.”
On Writing and Creativity: Lessons Learned By My 35th Birthday | The Creative Penn
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘naff’.
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Valuseless
Of low worth or little importance.
Unwanted matter by drusky is a nice, related list.trivial, cheap, inutile, ineffectual, dross, floccinaucinihili..., gimcrack, frippery, invalidated, drivel, otiose, tripe and 91 more...
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wakcy's Words
apocalypse, interlude, drome, absolution, atrocity, ruse, pristine, mason, reparable, deteriorate, pyramid, hipster and 283 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Life is just a four-letter word
Everyone's got their favorites. Here are some of mine.
snit, hobo, minx, kiln, loll, pelf, yegg, ugly, bumf, brio, biro, haha and 92 more...
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bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1402 more...
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tomax's Words
legerdemain, yayo, extravasation, wont, faze, coxswain, concomitant, enclave, unguent, rhabdomyolysis, effluent, puerile and 432 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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amberella's Words
facetious, behoove, akrasia, schadenfreude, halcyon, vapid, wanderlust, bluestocking, drazel, succinct, literati, geason and 116 more...
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msc's Words
pugilist, threepeat, bloviate, palaver, syncreism, pastiche, eschatology, peripatetic, glossolalia, busker, nudnik, troglodyte and 213 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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Baron Luke's Collection
An assortment of words, which, when used, should inject some vibrancy into your day, hopefully expunging any ennui!
expunge, cogitate, elucidate, post-haste, rebarbative, recalcitrant, smite, absquatulate, forlorn, thole, nefarious, insubordination and 124 more...
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to be sorted
litter, palanquin, aver, catamite, phlox, pliant, modicum, poorthink, cow, decalogue, caveat, dais and 175 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3251 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for naff.
whichbe (Brit. slang) worthless, useless; tacky, tasteless, unfashionable. May 12, 2008