insane

insane (ɪnˈseɪn)

—*adj*
1.	a. mentally deranged; crazy; of unsound mind
	b. (as collective noun; preceded by the): the insane
2.	characteristic of a person of unsound mind: an insane stare
3.	irresponsible; very foolish; stupid

in'sanely

—*adv*

in'saneness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

insane

1560, from L. insanus "mad, insane, outrageous, excessive, extravagant," from in- "not" + sanus (see sane). Originally only of persons; of actions, from 1842. Cf. lunatic; and It. pazzo "insane," originally a euphemism, from L. patiens "suffering."

Ger. verrückt, lit. pp. of verrücken "to displace," "applied to the brain as to a clock that is 'out of order' " [Buck].

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

insane in·sane (ĭn-sān')
adj.
Of, exhibiting, or afflicted with insanity.

Example sentences

Unfortunately, this insane story isn't a tale from a science-fiction novel.

It is insane to rack up tons of debt for almost all other jobs.

Take a looks at relative salaries, though, and it isn't as insane as it appears.

No wonder new mothers that bottle feed behave in such an insane manner.

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Matching Quote

"The clause which lived twenty-four hours in the Alabama Constitution, granting to taxpaying women owning $500 worth of property the suffrage on questions of bonded indebtedness, was killed by a disease peculiar to the genus homo known as chivalry. In the case in point, the diagnosis revealed that the fairest, purest and brightest jewels that ever shone under the brilliant rays of God's shining sun would be immeasurably lowered by voting upon questions relating to the taxation of their own property. Yet, under the vagaries of this disease, this same convention conferred on husbands the right to vote on their wives' property. This is the same character of chivalry which gives the wages of the brightest, fairest jewels to the husband, which makes impossible equal pay for equal work and which classes the jewels with the idiots, insane and criminals in that and other States."

-Anna Gordon