barmy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɑːmi/
ipa: /ˈbɑɹmi/
homophone: balmy (RP)
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)mi
Forms: form: barmier
form: barmiest
Etymology: Probably an alteration of balmy (“foolish; slightly crazy or mad, eccentric”), influenced by barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) (see etymology 1).
Senses: examples: text: [T]he exercise yard of the "barmy fellows," as he called the madmen, (meaning, I suppose, that their brains were in an unnatural state of working,) was but a stone's throw from himself and his rational companions, […]
ref: 1872, Mrs. Edward Millet [i.e., Janet Millett], chapter XIV, in An Australian Parsonage; or, The Settler and the Savage in Western Australia, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 330:
text: "Bli'me if I know wot yer all talkin' abaht. You're all barmy on the crumpet," said Liza indignantly, and, turning her back on them, made for home.
ref: 1897, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 9, in Liza of Lambeth, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published [1921], →OCLC, page 142:
text: I thanked John [Bishop], said the "oracle award" sounds like a made-up prize you'd give a fat kid on sports day – I should know, I used to get them – then that it's barmy that Hugo Boss can trade under the same name they flogged uniforms to the Nazis under and the ludicrous necessity for an event such as this one to banish such a lurid piece of information from our collective consciousness.
ref: 2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards: ‘It’s amazing how absurd it seems’”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2023:
text: He opted for a quieter bar to “watch it and enjoy the atmosphere” and engage in “sensible drinking, not going barmy”.
ref: 2024 July 14, Rachel Hall, quoting Robert Shaw, “‘I’ve never seen owt like it’: England fans in Benidorm in high spirits before Euro final”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
synonyms: word: balmy
word: dotty
word: goofy
word: wacko
word: aberrant
word: abnormal
word: anomalous
word: balmy
word: barmy
word: bizarre
word: crackpot
word: cranky
word: eccentric
word: eccentrical
word: erratic
word: excentrical
word: extraordinary
word: far-out
word: freakish
word: heteroclite
word: idiocentric
word: idiosyncratic
word: irregular
word: kookish
word: kooky
word: nutbar
word: odd
word: oddballish
word: off-centre
word: outlandish
word: outré
word: peculiar
word: pixilated
word: queer
word: quirky
word: quizzy
word: spacy
word: squirrelly
word: uncommon
word: wacky
word: weird
word: whimsical
word: whimsome
word: wifty
word: Wodehousian
word: Wonkaesque
word: 5150
word: bananas
word: barking
word: barking mad
word: buggish
word: buggy
word: bughouse
word: barmy
word: batchy
word: batpoop
word: bats
word: batty
word: bonkers
word: bread baskets
word: cracked
word: crackers
word: cra-cra
word: cray
word: cray-cray
word: crazed
word: crazy
word: crazy as a bedbug
word: crazy as a cootie
word: crazy as a cootie bug
word: crazy as a pet coon
word: cuckoo
word: daffy
word: daft
word: demented
word: deranged
word: distraught
word: disturbed
word: doolally
word: dotty
word: eccentric
word: fruit loops
word: gaga
word: hatstand
word: harebrained
word: insane
word: kooky
word: loon
word: loco
word: loony
word: loony tunes
word: loopy
word: lunatic
word: mad
word: mental
word: mentally ill
word: meshigener
word: meshugge
word: moonsick
word: non compos mentis
word: nonsane
word: nucking futs
word: nut job
word: nutballs
word: nut
word: nuts
word: nutso
word: nutty
word: nutter
word: off the beam
word: off the chain
word: over the edge
word: potty
word: psycho
word: psychoceramic
word: psychotic
word: sicko
word: screwy
word: squirrelly
word: starkers
word: tonto
word: unbalanced
word: unsane
word: wackadoodle
word: weird
word: whackjob
word: whacko
word: whacky
word: wode
word: yampy
word: zany
word: apeshit
word: batcrap
word: batshit
word: bat-shit
word: fucked in the head
word: fucked up
word: ripshit
antonyms: word: conspicuous
word: different
word: egregious
word: exceptional
word: historic
word: interesting
word: memorable
word: notable
word: noteworthy
word: outstanding
word: remarkable
word: special
word: strange
word: unique
word: insane
word: nonsane
word: unsane
glosses: Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.
synonyms: word: balmy
word: asinine
word: balmy
word: barmy
word: bedaft
word: loony
word: daft
word: derpy
word: dim-headed
word: dim-witted
word: dopey
word: dull-headed
word: dull-witted
word: dumb
word: duncical
word: fatuous
word: fuzzy-headed
word: fuzzy-minded
word: gauvison
word: goofy
word: idiotic
word: idle
word: insipient
word: mookish
word: naive
word: silly
word: simple
word: slight
word: slow-witted
word: softheaded
word: soft in the head
word: sottish
word: stupid
word: thick
raw_tags: not of action
word: unsage
word: unwise
word: wool-headed
word: woolly-headed
word: woolly-minded
word: crackpot
word: dense
antonyms: word: foolish
word: unwise
glosses: Very foolish.
Derived terms: barmily
barminess
Barmy Army