cozy
Americanadjective
-
comfortable and snug.
We live in a cozy little house with a small garden in the back.
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convenient or beneficial, usually as a result of dishonesty or connivance.
A very cozy agreement between competing firms had kept the industry profitable for years.
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suggesting opportunistic or conspiratorial intimacy.
The exposé revealed a cozy relationship between lobbyists and some politicians.
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discreetly reticent or noncommittal.
The administrators are remaining cozy about which policy they plan to adopt.
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relating to a genre of mystery stories with little suspense, explicit violence, or sexual content, often also having amateur sleuths and idyllic, intimate settings.
I read lots of different books, but I like cozy mysteries best.
Charming characters and just the right amount of danger make this cozy series a delight to read.
noun
plural
cozies-
a padded covering for a teapot or coffeepot to retain the heat of the contents.
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a mystery story with little suspense, explicit violence, or sexual content, often also having amateur sleuths and idyllic, intimate settings.
I started out reading cozies and moved on to the hard-boiled detective novels.
verb (used with object)
verb phrase
adjective
Other Word Forms
- cozily adverb
- coziness noun
Etymology
Origin of cozy
First recorded in 1700–10; from Scots colsie, perhaps from Scandinavian; compare Norwegian koselig “cozy,” kose seg “to enjoy oneself”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There was a pop-up shop decorated to look like a cozy British cottage full of holiday gifts, a scarf bar and Bloomingdale’s signature Big Brown plush collectible bear donned a plaid scarf.
The gifts of books or sheet music and cozy, winter drives continued.
From Literature
At Milan Fashion Week on Thursday, the Prada show opened with cozy knit sweaters and multi-coloured scarves, only for garments to be ripped open, exposed and distressed as the catwalk continued.
From Barron's
Coffee Confessionals is admittedly small but cozy, with hardwood floors, bountiful string lights and just a few cafe tables inside.
From Los Angeles Times
I like the straightforward transaction of reserving a hotel room, not the gray area of booking with a stranger who—the cozy “host” title notwithstanding—plans to charge me for my stay.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
