warm fuzzy

English

Etymology

The term comes from Claude Steiner's children's story The Warm Fuzzy Tale.

Noun

warm fuzzy (plural warm fuzzies)

1. (informal) A good impression; a feeling of comfort, happiness or trust.

   I suppose they are a reputable business, but I didn't get a warm fuzzy from their salesman.

   Antonym: cold prickly

   • 2009 April 19, Paul Bloom, “Natural Happiness”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     There is no payoff to getting the warm fuzzies in the presence of rats, snakes, mosquitoes, cockroaches, herpes simplex and the rabies virus.

2. (informal, chiefly in the plural, often derogatory) A sense of accomplishment after performing an act.

   John picks up litter in our neighborhood because it gives him warm fuzzies.