insane

insane, mad, crazy, crazed, demented, deranged, lunatic, maniac, non compos mentis are comparable in their general or nontechnical senses (for senses of corresponding nouns used technically see INSANITY) and as meaning afflicted by or manifesting unsoundness of mind or an inability to control one's rational processes.

Insane as applied to persons usually implies such unsoundness of mind that one is unable to function safely and competently in ordinary human relations, usually does not recognize one's own condition, and is not responsible for one's actions

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adjudged insane after a period of observation

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an extreme antisocial, perverted personality whose reactions differ widely from the normal, but are not necessarily to be classified as insane— Foulkes

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In more general use insane implies utter folly or irrationality; the person or the act or utterance so described is, by implication, governed by blind passion or senselessness

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the insane ambition and insatiable appetite which have caused this vast . . . war— Sir Winston Churchill

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dumbfounded by the insane assault—/!/ Newman

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now that wars . . . have become far more horrible and . . . insane— Inge

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Mad usually implies more frenzy than insane and therefore carries a stronger suggestion of wildness, rabidness, raving, or complete loss of self-control

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O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven! Keep me in temper: I would not be madl—Shak.

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he's mad. He always was. But he's worse than mad now. He's possessed— Graves

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he has fallen in love . . . with a stupid cocotte who has begun by driving him mad with jealousy— Edmund Wilson

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Crazy often suggests such mental breakdown as may result from illness or old age

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he has gone crazy

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we will bestow you in some better place, fitter for sickness and for crazy age—Shak.

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"Stuff!" exploded the Doctor. "You're not crazy and you never were and you're not going to be, unless you keep on making such a commotion about nothing"— Nancy Hale

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or it may suggest a distraught or wild state of mind induced by some intense emotion (as anxiety, grief, joy, desire, or excitement)

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works fine, but goes crazy if she hears Murdoch's voice—just sweats and trembles all over— Gerald Beaumont

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she was crazy with desire for sleep— Ruth Park

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somebody had shot a squirrel and he took on about it as though he had lost a child. I said then he was crazy— Anderson

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As applied to such things as schemes, projects, or notions crazy usually suggests that they are the product of a disordered or ill-balanced mind

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no educated Socialist believes such crazy nonsense— Shaw

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who would pay such a crazy price for a book

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Crazed is often used in place of crazy when a temporary disorder, usually with a specific cause, is implied

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crazed with grief

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they were crazed by the famine and pestilence of that last bitter winter— Amer. Guide Series: Wash.

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Demented and deranged are more formal than the preceding words and less rich in connotations; both terms, moreover, imply a change from mental soundness to unsoundness, demented usually suggesting clear signs (as profound apathy or incoherence in thought, speech, or action) which indicate deterioration of the mental powers

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there was now no doubt that the sick man was demented

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the great part of the German army in the early stage of the war was really an army of demented civilians— H. G. Wells

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apparently not clearly demented until after 1818, he was for years dangerously near the border of insanity— Amer. Guide Series: Va.

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and deranged (compare derangement under ABERRATION 2) suggesting a loss of mental balance or a state of mental disorder resulting from a functional disturbance of the brain or nervous system

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he was temporarily deranged by the shock

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in our culture a person who falls sick, hears voices, communicates with shadows, and acquires special abilities from them is inevitably classed as deranged— Kroeber

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Lunatic is approximately the equivalent of insane but is less frequently applied to persons and may imply no more than extreme folly

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Consuming with lunatic speed the assets of the earth— Agar

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Maniac comes closer to mad, for it commonly connotes violence, fury, or raving

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the maniac rage of the multitude

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the maniac dreamer; cruel ... is he with fear— Shelley

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Non compos mentis (Latin for "not sound of mind") is a legal term which specifies a state, but does not define the particular condition or kind, of mental unsoundness. It is often used, especially in its shortened form non compos, more generally with similar indefiniteness

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Barron's non compos. Lear controls him completely— Kenneth Roberts

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Analogous words: irrational, unreasonable: distracted, bewildered (see PUZZLE vb)

Antonyms: sane

Contrasted words: sensible, judicious, *wise, sapient, prudent