insane
adjective/ɪnˈseɪn/
/ɪnˈseɪn/
- (informal) very stupid, crazy or dangerous
- I must have been insane to agree to the idea.
Extra ExamplesTopics Dangerc2- It seems insane to cut the budget now.
- The whole idea is quite insane.
- It was an insane risk to take.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- look
- seem
- …
- absolutely
- completely
- quite
- …
Definitions on the go
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- (informal) extremely annoyed; angry
- This job is driving me insane.
- She was driving me insane with her constant chatter.
- (especially North American English, informal) shocking or very impressive; extremely large, high, good, etc.
- The prices are insane.
- We sold insane amounts of ice cream that day.
- It's insane how talented this guy is.
- (formal, law or old-fashioned, often offensive) having a serious mental illness that makes somebody unable to think or behave normally
- Doctors certified him as insane.
- The prisoners were slowly going insane.
Which Word? Talking about mental healthTalking about mental health- Do not use the words mad or crazy to describe somebody who has a mental illness. You can say that somebody has a mental illness, has mental health issues/problems or is mentally ill:
- I have experienced mental health issues since the age of 14.
- The pressure made her mentally ill.
- I have an anxiety disorder.
- He had a psychotic episode.
- Disturbed can be used to describe somebody who has problems with mental health because of very unhappy or unpleasant experiences:
- He works with emotionally disturbed children.
- Insane is a formal or old-fashioned term used in the past to describe somebody with a serious mental illness. It can now be offensive, although it still has a technical use in law meaning that somebody is not able to understand that their own actions are wrong or not able to understand a trial process:
- The question is, was the man insane when he committed the crime?
Extra Examples- He was declared criminally insane and not fit to plead.
- She later became insane and was confined to an institution.
- He went almost insane when he heard that his daughter had died.
- In 1975 she was certified clinically insane and sent to a psychiatric hospital.
- His lawyer claimed he was temporarily insane during the attack.
- The question is, was the man insane when he committed the crime?
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- look
- seem
- …
- absolutely
- completely
- quite
- …
- the insanenoun [plural] (old-fashioned, offensive) people who are insane
- a hospital for the insane
More Like This Plural adjectival nounsPlural adjectival nouns
Word Originmid 16th cent.: from Latin insanus, from in- ‘not’ + sanus ‘healthy’.
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insane