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lunatic

[loo-nuh-tik]

noun

an insane person.

a person whose actions and manner are marked by extreme eccentricity or recklessness.

Law. a person legally declared to be of unsound mind and who therefore is not held capable or responsible before the law.

adjective Also, lu·nat·i·cal

[loo-nat-i-kuhl] (for defs. 4, 5, 7).

insane; demented; crazy.

characteristic or suggestive of lunacy; wildly or recklessly foolish.

designated for or used by the insane: a lunatic asylum.

gaily or lightheartedly mad, frivolous, eccentric, etc.: She has a lunatic charm that is quite engaging.

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Lunatic is always a great word to know.

So is petition. Does it mean:

an application for a court order or for some judicial action

to secure property or title to a person by formal or legal process; to terminate legal proceedings by mutual consent of the parties

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Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English lunatik < Old French lunatique < Late Latin lūnāticus moonstruck. See Luna, -atic

Related forms

lu·nat·i·cal·ly, adverb

half-lu·na·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Example Sentences

Fortunately, the power of the lunatic fringe remained considerably smaller than its grandstanding.

Pity the lunatic fringe, poring over the lexicon to find an ersatz euphemism for suicide.

And you talk with him for a while and feel safe because he's not a lunatic.

EXPAND

Fortunately, the power of the lunatic fringe remained considerably smaller than its grandstanding.

Pity the lunatic fringe, poring over the lexicon to find an ersatz euphemism for suicide.

And you talk with him for a while and feel safe because he's not a lunatic.

The lunatic fringe group throws their weight around quite a bit, and desperately wants to portray themselves as the majority.

At the time, proponents of global warming were generally considered the lunatic fringe.

In other words their support for terrorism stemmed in a lunatic way from a smothered understanding that terrorism might be wrong.

Imagine you are going to a summer school run by a certified lunatic.

Keeping an open mind does not mean accepting as truth the ravings of a lunatic.

Eng is a strange mixture of lunatic charisma and a complete lack of mental agility.

It seems lunatic to think the outside world can do serious business with such a regime.

Religious fanatics, on the other hand, distort the data in order to fit in with their lunatic beliefs.

Galileo was called a lunatic during his time with his idea that the earth may not be the center of the solar system.

It's hard to put yourself in a mindset in which planets were considered the lunatic fringe.

They will call the cops because you are obviously a dangerous lunatic if you think such a thing might be possible.

The bottom line is that this was the act of a lunatic.

He is described lovingly by colleagues as a brilliant wild man whose ideas are at the lunatic fringe.

If every professor who backed a lunatic politician were to be sacked, half the interesting minds in academia would be lost.

Please note that any opinions expressed in the above message were made by a raving lunatic sandgrounder.

The day starts well before dawn with the lunatic hooting of gibbons, the rain forest's alarm clock, lovers and.

We run the risk that some lunatic or self-promoter will violate the public trust of.

Sometimes it helps to play lunatic a little when dealing with these sorts of people.

Ferreri's films look realistic but they are essentially lunatic cartoons, meant to be deadly serious.

Bishop isn't the only lunatic currently running around the academy.

Today, many would dismiss such crudely racist views as belonging to a tiny right-wing lunatic fringe.

It's an action melodrama that expresses the sentiments of the lunatic fringe at the political center.

And added to that is a small lunatic fringe particularly on the right.

Climate change deniers are no different than the lunatic fringe that still clings to primitive religions as being real.

Once ingested, it turns its host into a short-tempered, short-lived lunatic who doesn't hesitate to kill when crossed.

These are one sided and bogus tribunals by the lunatic fringe around the world which is a fine mockery of justice.

Some posed as lunatic ballerinas in frayed tulle, others in straitjackets and white madhouse makeup.

Too often the lunatic fringe hijack the discussions.

Ignoring the lunatic behaviour of populist-nationalist-extreme.

Those displaying methods in their madnesses are labelled either as genius or sent to lunatic asylums to test psychotic drugs.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

lunatic (ˈluːnətɪk)

—*adj*
1.	an archaic word for insane
2.	foolish; eccentric; crazy

—n
3.	a person who is insane

[C13 (adj) via Old French from Late Latin lūnāticus crazy, moonstruck, from Latin lūna moon]

lu'natically

—*adv*

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

lunatic

late 13c., "affected with periodic insanity, dependent on the changes of the moon," from O.Fr. lunatique "insane," from L. lunaticus "moon-struck," from luna "moon" (see luna). Cf. O.E. monseoc "lunatic," lit. "moon-sick;" M.H.G. lune "humor, temper, mood, whim, fancy" (Ger.

EXPAND

Laune), from L. luna. Cf. also N.T. Gk. seleniazomai "be epileptic," from selene "moon." The noun meaning "lunatic person" is first recorded late 14c. Lunatic fringe (1913) was apparently coined by U.S. politician Theodore Roosevelt. Lunatic soup (1933) was Australian slang for "alcoholic drink."

COLLAPSE

Link To lunatic

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Lunatic definition

probably the same as epileptic, the symptoms of which disease were supposed to be more aggravated as the moon increased. In Matt. 4:24 "lunatics" are distinguished from demoniacs. In 17:15 the name "lunatic" is applied to one who is declared to have been possessed. (See DAEMONIAC.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Matching Quote

"This is the Court of Chancery; which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire; which has its worn-out lunatic in every churchyard; which has its ruined suitor, with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress, borrowing and begging through the rounds of every man's acquaintance; which gives to monied might;the means abundantly of wearying out the right; which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope; so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart; that there is not an honorable man among its practitioners who does not give—who does not often give—the warning, "Suffer any wrong that can be done you, rather than come here!""

-Charles Dickens

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