in·san·i·ty

[in-san-i-tee]
noun, plural in·san·i·ties.
1.
the condition of being insane; a derangement of the mind. Synonyms: dementia, lunacy, madness, craziness, mania, aberration.
2.
Law. such unsoundness of mind as frees one from legal responsibility, as for committing a crime, or as signals one's lack of legal capacity, as for entering into a contractual agreement.
3.
Psychiatry. (formerly) psychosis.
4.
a.
extreme foolishness; folly; senselessness; foolhardiness: Trying to drive through that traffic would be pure insanity.
b.
a foolish or senseless action, policy, statement, etc.: We've heard decades of insanities in our political discourse.
Origin:
1580–90; < Latin insānitās. See in-3, sanity

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To insanity
00:10
Insanity is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
insanity (ɪnˈsænɪtɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n , pl -ties
1.  relatively permanent disorder of the mind; state or condition of being insane
2.  law a defect of reason as a result of mental illness, such that a defendant does not know what he or she is doing or that it is wrong
3.  utter folly; stupidity

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

insanity
1580s, from L. insanitatem "unhealthfulness," noun of quality from insanus (see insane).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

insanity in·san·i·ty (ĭn-sān'ĭ-tē)
n.

  1. Persistent mental disorder or derangement.

  2. Unsoundness of mind sufficient in the judgment of a civil court to render a person unfit to maintain a contractual or other legal relationship or to warrant commitment to a mental health facility.

  3. In most criminal jurisdictions, a degree of mental malfunctioning considered to be sufficient to relieve the accused of legal responsibility for the act committed.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
Insanity is a perfectly plausible response to the magnitude of this loss.
Other countries used foreign money to fuel various forms of insanity.
While their motives differ, the two action stars thrive in insanity and create chaos.
It's really a form of insanity, there is no other way to put it.
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