insane
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪnˈseɪn/
rhymes: -eɪn
Forms: form: more insane
form: insaner
form: most insane
form: insanest
Etymology: From Latin īnsānus (“unsound in mind; mad, insane”), from in- + sānus (“sound, sane”), equivalent to in- + sane.
Senses: examples: text: What is the cause of insanity? Nobody can answer such a sweeping question as that, but we know that certain diseases, such as syphilis, break down and destroy the brain cells and result in insanity. In fact, about one-half of all mental diseases can be attributed to such physical causes as brain lesions, alcohol, toxins, and injuries. But the other half—and this is the appalling part of the story—the other half of the people who go insane apparently have nothing organically wrong with their brain cells. In post-mortem examinations, when their brain tissues are studied under the highest-powered microscopes, they are found to be apparently just as healthy as yours and mine. Why do these people go insane?
ref: 1933, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 41:
text: And you told me not to drive
But I made it home alive
So you said that only proves that I'm insane
ref: 1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses:
glosses: Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
examples: text: an insane hospital
text: an insane asylum
glosses: Used by or relating to insane people.
examples: text: Were such things here, as we doe speake about? / Or haue we eaten on the insane Root, / That takes the Reason Prisoner?
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: Causing insanity or madness.
examples: text: an insane plan
text: an insane amount of money
text: The preposterous altruism too![…]Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: Yenshui is a fairly ordinary town situated between Tainan and Chiayi. However, during the Lantern Festival, on the 15th day of the first moon, the whole town goes insane.
ref: 1998, Robert Storey, “South-West Taiwan”, in Taiwan (Lonely Planet), 4th edition, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 292, column 2:
text: And what actinic, mind-wrenching form could the countermeme take? How could human hands assemble something so devastatingly powerful and hold it steady; what human mind could wield it without exploding from the inside out? What would deploying that concept in anger do to human ideatic space? How far out from the solution is modern memetic science, a year, a century? What insane impossibility has Hughes just committed himself to?
ref: 2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 191–192:
glosses: Characterized by excess or the utmost folly; ridiculous; impractical.
examples: text: That guy is insane at FPS games.
text: Cederstrand was all over the ice, whipping his sled around and firing pucks into the net. It's what Straschnitzki is aiming for. "He's insane. The turns, the shots. It's something I want to do some day."
ref: 2018 August 8, Bill Graveland, “'I'll get better': Paralyzed Humboldt Broncos player working to improve at sledge hockey”, in CBC:
text: And fans echoed their responses. "You nailed it, girl! This movie is so special. Your work is insane! 💗," one person wrote. "Is there ANYTHING you can't do?! I'm impressed," said another.
ref: 2020 August 24, Nicol Natale, “Watch Reese Witherspoon Nail a Seriously Impressive Backflip in This Throwback Video”, in Prevention:
text: On getting two quick eliminations, SypherPK cries out ecstatically: This gun is insane, it's the best gun ever! Woohoo!
ref: 2020 September 19, Saahil Agnelo Periwal, “Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 4: SypherPK claims a Victory Royale by using the 'rarest' item in the game- The Galactus Gun”, in Sportskeeda:
glosses: Extremely good; incredibly amazing.
glosses: Enraged; furious.
Synonyms: 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
topics: legal
law
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
Hyponyms: word: crazy as a fox
word: crazy like a fox
Derived terms: drive someone insane
general paralysis of the insane
general paresis of the insane
insane asylum
insane in the membrane
insanely
insaneness
insanery
insaniac
insanify
noninsane
Related terms: word: insanity
word: a kangaroo loose in the top paddock
word: a half bubble off plumb
word: a few clowns short of a circus
word: a few fries short of a Happy Meal
word: a few spanners short of a tool box
word: away with the fairies
word: crazy as a shithouse rat
word: cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs
word: driving on three wheels
word: few cards short of a full deck
word: few cards shy of a full deck
word: few sandwiches short of a picnic
word: few X short of a Y
word: have a geranium in the cranium
word: have a screw loose
word: have bats in one's belfry
word: have static in the attic
word: have strudel in the noodle
word: his driveway doesn't go all the way to the road
word: insane in the membrane
word: losing marbles
word: nobody home
word: no longer in possession of one's faculties
word: not all there
word: not have both oars in the water
word: not playing with a full deck
word: not running on all cylinders
word: not right in the head
word: off one's box
word: off one's chump
word: off one's head
word: off one's hinges
word: off one's nut
word: off one's rocker
word: off one's tree
word: off one's trolley
word: off the deep end
word: off the planet
word: off the rails
word: one brick short of a full load
word: one card shy of a full deck
word: one fry short of a Happy Meal
word: out of one's box
word: out of one's gourd
word: out of one's head
word: out of one's cotton-picking mind
word: out of one's mind
word: out of one's skull
word: out of one's tree
word: out of one's wits
word: out there
word: round the bend
word: round the twist
word: stark raving mad
word: stark staring mad
word: stark staring bonkers
word: the cheese has slid off one's cracker
word: three fries short of a Happy Meal
word: three stops short of Dagenham
word: touched in the head
word: toys in the attic
word: wired wrong
word: mad as a box of frogs
word: mad as a hatter
word: mad as a mongoose
word: mad as a March hare
word: nutty as a fruit cake
word: Appendix:Snowclones/few X short of a Y
word: mad person
word: rave
word: becraze
word: stupid
word: wild