zanyismhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zanyism_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezanyism, n.
Revised 2024

zanyismnoun

Now rare.
  1. 1823–
    The condition, characteristics, or behaviour of a zany (in various senses of zany n.); esp. foolishness or buffoonery; (in later use) imaginatively unconventional or idiosyncratic character, quality, or behaviour; zaniness. Also: an instance of this; a foolish, ludicrous, or eccentric act or form of behaviour.
    1. 1823
      Such zanyisms as these [sc. limericks].
      Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine June 662/1
    2. 1880
      I go into a Church of England and see acted a sort of zanyism.
      West Briton 3 June 6/3
    3. 1938
      Out in Minneapolis right now is a screwy outfit called ‘The Rodeolier’ who achieve the epitomy of zanyism by hanging one of their members to a rafter.
      Swing November 4/1
    4. 1988
      A component of zanyism seems vital to the temperament of any good comic actor or actress.
      H. Levin, Playboys & Killjoys viii. 84
    5. 2001
      For all her zanyisms, Mother had been a serious collector and preserver of fashion history.
      D. B. Frank, Plantation xlviii. 516

zanyism, n. was revised in March 2024.

zanyism, n. was last modified in June 2024.