Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Scatterbrained; flighty.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Showery.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective slang, UK Scatterbrained; flighty.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective lacking sense or discretion
  • adjective lost in thought; showing preoccupation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably scatt(erbrain) + –y.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • "... and Tommy Caffrey could never be got to take his castor oil unless it was Cissy Caffrey that held his nose and promised him the scatty heel of the loaf of brown bread with golden syrup on. "

    Joyce, Ulysses, 13

    January 14, 2007

  • Found this word in Chapter 2 of Agatha Christie's book Nemesis.

    June 3, 2012

  • Nice if you would share the context of scatty with us, ShanShen!

    June 3, 2012