Is funnier a word in the dictionary

funny

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fun·ny

 (fŭn′ē)

adj. fun·ni·er, fun·ni·est

1.

a. Causing laughter or amusement: a funny cartoon.

b. Making or given to making amusing jokes or witticisms: a colleague who is very funny.

c. Appropriate as the subject of a joke; deserving of a joke. Used in negative sentences to express disapproval or to emphasize the seriousness of something: There is nothing funny about getting the flu.

2.

a. Difficult to account for; unusual or odd: I had a funny feeling that she would call.

b. Suspiciously odd: It’s funny how I seem to lose something every time he comes around.

3. Counterfeit or fraudulent: tried to pass off funny money as legitimate.

4. Informal Somewhat ill, painful, or abnormal: I felt funny after eating those clams.«a mole on his arm that has started to go funny» (Ann Cummins).

5. Informal

a. Offensively forward or disrespectful: She told him off after he started to get funny.

b. Contrary to one’s demands or expectations: Don’t let the prisoners do anything funny.

n. pl. fun·nies Informal

1. A joke; a witticism: «He laughed because he did not know I was not making a funny» (Jonathan Safran Foer).

2. funnies

a. Comic strips.

b. The section of a newspaper containing comic strips.

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fun′ni·ly adv.

fun′ni·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

funny

(ˈfʌnɪ)

adj, -nier or -niest

1. causing amusement or laughter; humorous; comical

2. peculiar; odd

3. suspicious or dubious (esp in the phrase funny business)

4. informal faint or ill: to feel funny.

n, pl -nies

informal a joke or witticism

ˈfunnily adv

ˈfunniness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fun•ny

(ˈfʌn i)

adj. -ni•er, -ni•est, adj.

1. providing fun; amusing; comical: a funny joke.

2. attempting to amuse; facetious.

3. warranting suspicion; underhanded; deceitful: There was something funny about those extra charges.

4. Informal. insolent; impertinent: Don’t get funny with me, mister.

5. curious; strange; peculiar; odd: Her speech has a funny twang.

n.

6. Informal. a funny remark or story; joke: to make a funny.

7. funnies,

a. comic strips.

b. Also called funny paper. the section of a newspaper reserved for comic strips, word games, etc.

adv.

8. Informal. peculiarly.

[1750–60]

fun′ni•ly, adv.

fun′ni•ness, n.

Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

comic

– comical – funny

1. ‘comical’

When people or things seem amusing or absurd, you can describe them as comical.

There is something slightly comical about him.

2. ‘comic’

Comic is used to describe things that are intended to make you laugh.

He is a great comic actor.

The novel is both comic and tragic.

Be Careful!
Don’t use ‘comical’ to describe things that are intended to make you laugh. Don’t say, for example, ‘He is a great comical actor‘.

3. ‘funny’

The word that you usually use to describe someone or something that makes you laugh is funny.

Let me tell you a funny story.

Farid was smart and good-looking, and he could be funny when he wanted to.

---

fun

– funny

1. ‘fun’

If something is fun, it is pleasant, enjoyable, and not serious.

It’s fun working for him.

If you have fun, you enjoy yourself.

We had great fun at the party.

She wanted a bit more fun out of life.

Be Careful!
Fun is an uncountable noun. Don’t say that someone ‘has funs‘ or ‘has a great fun‘.

If you want to say that something is very enjoyable, you can say that it is great fun or a lot of fun.

The game was great fun.

In conversation and informal writing, you can use fun as an adjective. Don’t use fun in this way in formal writing.

It was a fun evening.

She’s a really fun person to be around.

2. ‘funny’

If something is funny, it is amusing and makes you smile or laugh.

She told funny stories.

Wayne could be very funny when he wanted to.

You can also say that something is funny when it is strange, surprising, or puzzling.

The funny thing is, we went to Arthur’s house just yesterday.

Have you noticed anything funny about this plane?

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	funny — an account of an amusing incident (usually with a punch line); «she told a funny story»; «she made a funny» funny remark, funny story, good story gag, jape, jest, joke, laugh — a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter; «he told a very funny joke»; «he knows a million gags»; «thanks for the laugh»; «he laughed unpleasantly at his own jest»; «even a schoolboy’s jape is supposed to have some ascertainable point»
Adj.	1.	funny — arousing or provoking laughter; «an amusing film with a steady stream of pranks and pratfalls»; «an amusing fellow»; «a comic hat»; «a comical look of surprise»; «funny stories that made everybody laugh»; «a very funny writer»; «it would have been laughable if it hadn’t hurt so much»; «a mirthful experience»; «risible courtroom antics» comic, comical, risible, amusing, laughable, mirthful humorous, humourous — full of or characterized by humor; «humorous stories»; «humorous cartoons»; «in a humorous vein»
	2.	funny — beyond or deviating from the usual or expected; «a curious hybrid accent»; «her speech has a funny twang»; «they have some funny ideas about war»; «had an odd name»; «the peculiar aromatic odor of cloves»; «something definitely queer about this town»; «what a rum fellow»; «singular behavior» peculiar, queer, rum, rummy, curious, singular, odd strange, unusual — being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird; «a strange exaltation that was indefinable»; «a strange fantastical mind»; «what a strange sense of humor she has»
	3.	funny — not as expected; «there was something fishy about the accident»; «up to some funny business»; «some definitely queer goings-on»; «a shady deal»; «her motives were suspect»; «suspicious behavior» suspect, suspicious, fishy, shady colloquialism — a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech questionable — subject to question; «questionable motives»; «a questionable reputation»; «a fire of questionable origin»
	4.	funny — experiencing odd bodily sensations; «told the doctor about the funny sensations in her chest» ill, sick — affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function; «ill from the monotony of his suffering»

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

funny

adjective

1. humorous, amusing, comical, entertaining, killing (informal), rich, comic, silly, ridiculous, diverting, absurd, jolly, witty, hilarious, ludicrous, laughable, farcical, slapstick, riotous, droll, risible, facetious, jocular, side-splitting, waggish, jocose I’ll tell you a funny story.
humorous serious, grave, stern, sober, melancholy, solemn, humourless, unfunny

2. comic, comical, a scream, a card (informal), a caution (informal) He could be funny when he wanted to be.

3. peculiar, odd, strange, unusual, remarkable, bizarre, puzzling, curious, weird, mysterious, suspicious, dubious, queer, rum (Brit. slang), quirky, perplexing There’s something funny about him.

4. ill, poorly (informal), queasy, sick, odd, crook (Austral. & N.Z. informal), ailing, queer, unhealthy, seedy (informal), unwell, out of sorts (informal), off-colour (informal), under the weather (informal) My head ached and my stomach felt funny.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

funny

adjective

3. Intended to excite laughter or amusement:

4. Agreeably curious, especially in an old-fashioned or unusual way:

5. Causing puzzlement; perplexing:

noun

Informal. Words or actions intended to excite laughter or amusement:

Informal: gag.

The American Heritage® Roget’s Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Translations

divnýlegračnízábavný

underligmorsomsjov

naljakas

kummallinenhuvittavakoominenoutovitsi

neobičansmiješan

vicces

fyndinn, skemmtilegurskrÿtinn

変な面白いおもしろい

괴상한우스운이상한

caraghios

nenavadensmešenzabaven

roligskojigkomiskkonstiglustig

แปลกประหลาดตลก

buồn cườikỳ lạ

funny

[ˈfʌnɪ]

A. ADJ (funnier (compar) (funniest (superl)))

1. (= amusing) [person, joke, film, story] → gracioso
you look so funny in that costume → tienes una pinta graciosísima con ese disfraz
it was so funny, I just couldn’t stop laughing → era tan gracioso que no podía dejar de reírme
he’s trying to be funny → quiere hacerse el gracioso
that’s not funny → eso no tiene gracia

Collins Spanish Dictionary — Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

funny

adj (+er)

(inf: = suspicious) funny business or tricks → faule Sachen pl → or Tricks pl (inf); there’s something funny going on here → hier ist doch was faul (inf); don’t try anything funny → keine faulen Tricks! (inf)

---

funny

:

funny cigarette

n (inf) → Joint m (inf)

funny handshake

n (inf) besonderer, von Freimaurern verwendeter Händedruck

funny man

n (inf: = comedian) → Komiker m

funny money

n → ein Wahnsinnsgeld nt (inf)

funny paper

n (US) → Witzseiten pl

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

funny

[ˈfʌnɪ]

1. adj (-ier (comp) (-iest (superl)))

b. (strange) → strano/a, bizzarro/a
this tastes funny → ha uno strano sapore
a funny feeling came over me → mi sono sentito strano
the funny thing about it is that … → la cosa strana è che…
there’s some funny business going on here (fam) → qui c’è qualcosa di losco

2. n the funnies (Am) (fam) → i fumetti

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

fun

(fan) noun

enjoyment; a good time. They had a lot of fun at the party; Isn’t this fun!

ˈfunny adjective

1. amusing; making one laugh. a funny story.

2. strange; peculiar. I heard a funny noise.

ˈfunnily adverbfun and games

activities that are good fun. But I have to warn you, this job is not all fun and games!

for fun

as a joke; for amusement. The children threw stones for fun.

in fun

as a joke; not seriously. I said it in fun.

make fun of

to laugh at (someone, usually unkindly). They made fun of her.

---

funnily,

funny

etc see fun

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

funny

→ غَرِيب, مُضْحِك divný, legrační sjov, underlig komisch, witzig αστείος, παράξενος extraño, gracioso, raro huvittava, kummallinen drôle, étrange neobičan, smiješan divertente, strano 変な, 面白い 괴상한, 우스운 grappig, vreemd morsom, rar dziwny, zabawny engraçado, estranho забавный, смешной konstig, rolig แปลกประหลาด, ตลก garip, komik buồn cười, kỳ lạ 奇怪的, 好笑的

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

• There’s a funny smell

Collins Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

funny

adj (fam o vulg, unusual) extraño, raro; adv de una manera extraña or rara; She walks funny..Camina de una manera extraña (rara).

English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Some folk find it fun to use the word fun as an adjective. Others find it funner to inform this group that fun is properly a noun, not an adjective, and even if it is used in this way the comparative form of funner is an abomination. And sometimes the first group finds it funnest of all to tell the anti-fun brigade to go stick it in their hats. In the spirit of fun let’s have a look at both sides of this debate.

Early Use of Fun as an Adjective

The earliest uses of fun were either slang or regionalisms, appearing at the end of the 17th century as a verb (“to cheat a person”) or a noun (“a case of cheating or deception”). The noun sense of “enjoyment” came up in the early 18th century, and for the next hundred years or so the word was blissfully free of adjectival impurities, and all was well with the world.

However, in the beginning of the 19th century things started to fall apart, as certain miscreants began using fun in ways that looked decidedly adjectival. While it is common to blame such linguistic excesses on speakers of American English, in this case it appears that it came about on both sides of the Atlantic at about the same time.

We have transmitted the communication to the proprietors, only reserving the following query:—“Was it fun, after promising to put the passengers on shore, from the Dublin seeam-packet (sic), to take them round the Floating Light.”
— Liverpool Mercury (Liverpool, Eng.), 16 Sept. 1825

This practice, continues the editor, may be fun to the officer—it may satiate a malignant heart; but it is what a Turk would be ashamed to do in his own country.
— American and Commercial Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, MD), 12 Apr. 1826

When eight o’clock struck, a pack of cards was accidentally observed over the mantle-piece and they were, half earnest, half fun, opened and tossed upon the table.
— The Observer (London, Eng.), 29 Oct. 1826

Few, if any, usage guides or commentators weighed in on the matter until the middle of the 20th century, possibly because the adjectival use of fun was limited, or was considered so uncouth as to not merit consideration. However, by 1960 the issue was being addressed, and the feeling was very much against allowing this particular form of functional shift.

Question: Can fun be used as an adjective, as in “We had a fun time?” G.J.

Answer: Not in my hearing without inducing severe nausea.
— Bergen Evans, The Austin Statesman (Austin, TX), 6 Oct. 1960

When I was in college I tried to get some standards for my life. I resolved never to be friends with those who used “fun” as an adjective.
— Judith Martin, The Austin Statesman (Austin, Tex.), 13 May 1971

Despite what the dictionary says, fun is not an adjective among articulate adults.
— Ronald Kohl, Machine Design (Cleveland, OH), 24 Jul. 1997

Emergence of Funner and Funnest

As is so often the case, however, common use rudely elbowed the naysayers out of the way, and fun is now defined as an adjective in every modern dictionary. It is still quite common to see usage notes appended to these entries, cautioning that adjectival fun is informal, and to be avoided in formal speech or writing. Once it became clear that fun was in fact an adjective people began to wonder about how to use the word in its comparative and superlative form. Can something be funner than something else? If you have reached the apogee of fun can you rightfully say that it was the funnest thing ever? Both forms have been in use for well over a hundred years, although neither one is found in what we might call elevated prose.

This new production is said to be of a bigger standard, both as to its literary and artistic merits. It is to be crowded with pictures of the funnest descriptions.
— The Boston Globe, 30 Oct. 1881

Harry Robinson, in his slight of hand burlesque is immense, and on the trapeze is the funnest act that was ever put on a programme, The audience couldn’t laugh, they screamed and howled with mirth.
— The Atchinson Daily Champion (Atchison, KS), 30 Sept. 1877

But what funnest of hall I never discovered it till I got ome wen I gott hin my house my wife urled the caucepan at my edd an wery nie nocked my branes out of my old carcuss….
— The Star (Saint Peter Port, Eng.), 13 Jul. 1876

”Open House,” the last comedy by H. T. Byron, is to be brought out at the Vaudeville in London. It is said to be funner than “Our Boys.”
— Evening Star (Washington, DC), 9 May 1885

A Rag Baby!—With—Mr. Frank Daniels, The Inimitable Comedian, in his Great Creation, Old Sport! Everything New and Funner Than Ever.
— (Advt.) Salt Lake Evening Democrat (Salt Lake City, UT), 3 May 1887

The comedy has been freshened up, but it is no funner than the first version.
— The Buffalo Commercial (Buffalo, NY), 9 Oct. 1894

Funner and Funnest are (Sometimes) Real

Our entry for adjectival fun states “sometimes funner; sometimes funnest.” This is because there are many people who do indeed use these words, and there are many others who, while they may allow that fun is an adjective, strongly prefer that things be ‘more fun,’ or ‘most fun.’

Comparative and superlative forms of English adjectives can be tricky things. There are some which prefer to be modified with —er or —est, some which work better with more or most, and still others (such as good and bad) which take entirely different words. It is not difficult to find exceptions to any rule regarding these words. For instance, bad usually becomes worse and worst, although there are hundreds of uses of badder and baddest ranging across a wide variety of eras and registers.

And euen so, the baddest people may, 

became good folke, if they will bide the stampe.
— Thomas Churchyard, A Sparke of Friendship, 1588

The baddest dude since ‘Shaft’!
— (Advt.) Chicago Defender, 12 Aug. 1972

The fact that funner and funnest exist does not mean that you should use them without expecting that it will strike some people as peculiar. If you write them in a term paper expect to receive disappointed sighs and underlined corrections in equal measure from your teacher. But words which disappoint people are still words — if they truly didn’t exist there would be nothing to be disappointed about.

funnier

1. Comparative form of funny.

Here are some other words you could make with the letters funnier, you can also use this lookup tool to help you find words for the popular New York Times game Wordle.

Found 53 words in 0.20183 seconds

If an English language learner uttered the words

This is a funner film

I’m pretty sure that native speakers would either correct him, «This film is more fun» or skip past the error but immediately sense that something was off. However, in the many years of teaching English privately to students I can say, hand on heart, I’ve never come across this type of language mistake by Italian learners (I cannot vouch for other nationalities), on the contrary they often produce the following

This is the more funny film

and

The holiday was funny

The first is the result of an L1 (first language) interference while the second is grammatically correct and in the right context be very acceptable, but in most cases the ESL students meant to say, fun. Why bother correcting these errors in speech and writing if «more» and «funny» are words that exist and can be found in any dictionary? Because, as I explain to students, English native speakers do not normally say these sentences and communication might break down.

Language learners tend to be a highly motivated lot and want to (some desperately need to) communicate effectively in English. Prescriptive grammar is a necessary evil in order to help non-native speakers sound more natural. For the very same reasons, funner and funnest may be classed as words, found in dictionaries and may even be uttered by native speakers, it does not mean phrases or sentences that contain these expressions are standard… not yet.

Type «funner» in Google, and the first page will show people asking whether funner is a word or not. On that same page is the Grammarist’s viewpoint which I’ll quote because it argues in favour for «funner» quite convincingly

The reason the use of funner and funnest has been discouraged is that
fun was until recently only a noun. Nouns do not have comparative
(-er) and superlative (-est) forms, but mass nouns such as fun can be
modified by more and most (e.g., “I have more water,” or “he has the
most courage”). But while some of the stodgier English reference books
still pretend fun is not an adjective, most English speakers moved on
long ago, and the adjectival fun is rarely questioned. Ultimately, if
we accept that fun is an adjective—and we have no choice, because it’s
common—then we also have to accept funner and funnest. Comparatives
and superlatives of one-syllable adjectives usually take the -er and
-est endings, and there’s no good reason fun should be any different.

A well-argued case for funner and funnest being the logical and natural comparative and superlative forms for fun. Yet, I doubt I could ever bring myself to say one day, let alone write,

“This holiday was funner”.
“That was the funnest holiday”.

On the other hand, Urban Dictionary¹ which purportedly reports on the most up-to-date language developments has this to say about funner

The dumb person’s way of saying ‘more fun’

I suspect the majority of English speaking people (whom neither ELU, nor the Grammarist represent) think this on hearing and reading «funner».

As is the case with most English and grammar related topics, people tend to have strong opinions one way or the other. Today’s topic is no different, and I expect this post to elicit some strong opinions between the two primary camps.

On the one side, you have those who say that fun can never take the comparative and superlative endings that are typical of adjectives, i.e., funner, funnest.

On the other side, you have those who say that fun is well established as an adjective in writing and speech, and, therefore, must be allowed to inflect like one.

Is Funner a Real Word: How about Funnest?

In this post, I hope to reach some type of middle ground between these two camps and advise the average writer on how to proceed with the word fun. Is funner a word? Is funnest a word?

Let’s find out.

Is Fun a Noun?

What everyone agrees on is the fact that fun is a noun. It emerged as such in the late 17th century as a “cant” or slang word.

• We had fun at the party last night.
• Riding a motorcycle is great fun.
• Seibert also brings in the matter of personality—charisma and charm, which are crucial matters in tap—and he has some fun with people who were short on it. –The New Yorker

The phrase “we had fun” is the grammatical equivalent of “we had pizza.”

• We had fun at the party last night.
• We had pizza at the party last night.

Yes, fun is more of an abstract idea than a physical pizza, but they both function as nouns in such a sentence.

Is Fun an Adjective?

The differences in opinion only arise when the following question is asked, “Can fun be an adjective?”

• That was a fun movie.
• We had a fun time.
• The beach is a fun place.

In all of the above sentences, fun is being used as if it were an adjective. Is this acceptable? That depends, largely, on whom you ask and their age.

As I mentioned above, everyone agrees that fun is a noun, and for more than 200 years, it functioned almost exclusively as a noun.

Sometime in the early-to-mid 1900s its use began to drift, probably as a result of its quasi-adjective/ambiguous use in phrases like “a fun fair” or sentences like “It is fun to ski.” It’s still being used as a noun in these two examples, but it looks as if it could be an adjective. This ambiguity probably led to its misuse.

Traditionalists hold that fun can only function as an noun, while others claim it can be an adjective too.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the use of fun as an attributive adjective (a fun trip) is now established in informal use but is not accepted in Standard English. The American Heritage Dictionary advises writers to avoid it in formal writing.

This would be my advice as well. If you want your writing to appear authoritative, I would advise you not to use fun as an adjective. If you are writing a research paper, job cover letter, resume, college application, etc., you should avoid this use and hold to the traditional rule:

• Fun is a noun, not an adjective.

While the use of fun as an attributive adjective (a fun time) is common to hear in informal speech, the comparative and superlative forms funner and funnest, as if fun were a standard adjective, is another matter altogether.

Outside of direct quotations, usually those of small children, the use of funner is almost universally rejected and almost never appears in printed sources.

The above graph charts funner vs. more fun in books since 1800. In the past 200 years, funner has barely even registered in these print sources across American and British English.

The same goes for funnest; you can hardly make out the line of its printed use.

This should be expected, of course. These types of nonstandard words are usually only found in speech and not in edited prose.

What’s the Bottom Line?

When asked the question, “Should I write funner or more fun?” I answer unequivocally more fun. I say this for a few reasons.

First, I am among the group of writers who find funner and funnest to be particularly grating, so, on some level, it is a personal preference.

Second, I think this is the majority consensus of readers and writers. With the popular use of these two forms, more fun or funner / most fun or funnest, so incredibly lopsided, it is clear to see what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.

More fun is accepted; funner is not.

Most fun is accepted; funnest is not.

If you want to be taken seriously as a writer or you are an ESL student learning the language, do not use funner or funnest or your writing.

Summary

Fun is increasingly being used as an attributive adjective in informal contexts.

If one were doing a piece of formal writing, research paper, resume, cover letter, dissertation, etc., I would advise the writer to steer clear of fun as an adjective.

Avoid completely the words funner and funnest.

There’s something funny about the word funner. It has the sound of a word twisted for the sake of a game of Scrabble, and any mention of “funner” is liable to draw the response of, “Do you mean ‘more fun’?”

Yet grammatically speaking, there’s no need to pick one or the other: funner and more fun are equally acceptable ways of comparing two fun things (only one scores nine points in Scrabble, though).

What does funner mean?

Funner is a comparative of the adjective fun, meaning the word is used to describe the different level of fun between two things. It’s used to compare things like dresses (as in, “this yellow dress is funner than the navy one”) or activities (as in, “the upside down roller coaster is funner than the spinning roller coaster”). Really anything that can be described as fun can be compared to another object that’s considered fun by using the word funner.

Revitalize your vocabulary with some funny words you may not know.

Still, actually using funner in a sentence can trip people up. Take, for example, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeted the word funner in 2018. The tweet inspired people to “correct” his word usage by informing him that more fun is the correct version. Only, the NASCAR superstar was correct in the first place—and his grammar sticklers were correct at the same time. More fun is just as valid as funner, so in a way everyone wins.

Why does funner sound wrong?

Don’t feel bad if you fall into the camp of people who think that funner just sounds wrong. Fun is among a small number of adjectives that has two grammatically correct comparative forms: one that ends in -er and one that adds the word more to the front. The former is considered informal, in this case, while the latter is viewed as more formal.

It’s helpful to view funner in the context of other comparative adjectives. Some forms change the word entirely, like how better is the comparative adjective for good. There are also words that require “more” be added before the adjective, such as more courageous. And then there’s the group of comparatives that gets it all done in one word while keeping the adjective relatively unchanged. Many two-syllable adjectives that end in -y, -er, -le, and -ow fall into this category and simply have the -er tacked onto the end of the word, like happy (happier) or shallow (shallower).

The final group to know are the comparative adjectives that can either add more to the front or add -er to the end. This is where you’ll find fun and its two comparatives, funner and more fun, as well as words like stupid (which can use either stupider or more stupid) and quiet (which can use either quieter or more quiet).

Feel free to switch up which form you use when you say or write comparative adjectives in the last category. After all, it’s funner to have options than to be forced to use the same form all the time.

1. funny — synonyms: amusing, humorous, witty, comic, droll, facetious — смешные — синонимы: забавные, с чувством юмора, остроумные, комические, озорные, шутливые
2. timid — synonyms: apprehensive, fearful, easily frightened, afraid, faint-hearted, timorous, nervous — робкие — синонимы: опасающийся, пугливые, легко пугается, боится, малодушный, робкий, нервный
3. intelligent — synonyms: clever, bright, brilliant, quick-witted, quick on the uptake, smart, canny, astute — умные — синонимы: умные, яркие, блестящие, сообразительные, быстро соображает, умный, хитрый, проницательный
4. kind — synonyms: good, nice, gentle, gracious — добрый — синонимы: хорошие, красивые, нежные, милостивые
5. nice — synonyms: enjoyable, pleasant, agreeable, good, satisfying, gratifying, delightful, marvelous — красивый — синонимы: приятные, приятные, приятные, хорошие, удовлетворяющие, приятно, восхитительно, изумительные
6. rude — synonyms: ill-mannered, bad-mannered, impolite, discourteous, uncivil, ill-behaved, unmannerly — грубые — синонимы: невоспитанный, невоспитанный, невежливый, невоспитанный, невежливый, плохо вел себя, невоспитанный