… he looks at me as if I were daft .

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'daft.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback .

Judging a stock by its name may not be a daft strategy after all.

Almost everyone thinks this is daft but won’t say so, because the trans issue is the most pressing social-justice matter of the day.

All of this is serious, and Public Health's suggestion to exercise social distancing seems very daft.

Yet just as Shoplifters conceded that its low-class antiheroes were actually horrible people, Parasite is fairly kind to the upper crust, portraying the rich as sweet if slightly daft people.

Which, of course, sounds daft since voters headed to the polls last Tuesday or headed to their mailboxes at some point to send in their absentee ballots.

Nevertheless, emotion resonates through this delightful memoir, which offers a candid, humorous look inside the royal family and the daft world of the British aristocracy.

The internet has accelerated the spread of absurd theories, but these are a continuation of the sort of daft rumors that have always circulated in human communities.

She looked at us as if we'd gone daft.

Your idea seems a bit daft to me. She looked at us as if we'd gone daft.

History and Etymology for daft

Middle English daffte, daft, defte "well-mannered, gentle, dull, foolish," going back to Old English gedæfte "gentle, mild, meek," adjective derivative of a Germanic base *daƀ- "becoming, fit" (whence also Old English gedafen "appropriate, fitting," Gothic gadaban "to happen, be suitable," with lengthened grade Old English gedēfe "fitting, worthy, quiet, tranquil," Middle Dutch onghedoef "wild, rough," Gothic gadob ist "it is fitting"), going back to dialectal Indo-European *dhabh- or *dhobh-, whence also Old Church Slavic podobati "to become, be fitting," dobrŭ "good, pleasant," Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian dôba, dȍba "time, season," Lithuanian dabà "nature, character," dabnùs "well-dressed, elegant"

Note: The sense progression from Germanic to Modern English is apparently "fit, becoming" to "well-mannered, modest" to "dull, stupid" to "foolish, irrational." See also deft.