maddening
Americanadjective
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driving to madness or frenzy.
a maddening thirst.
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infuriating or exasperating.
his maddening indifference to my pleas.
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raging; furious.
a maddening wind.
adjective
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serving to send mad
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extremely annoying; exasperating
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of maddening
Explanation
Maddening things are extremely irritating: they make you mad. Some drivers have the maddening habit of following other cars too closely on the highway. If something annoys you a lot, it's maddening. You might try to ignore the maddening tune your sister keeps whistling, or decide to leave a movie half way through because of the maddening acting style of its leading man. The adjective maddening comes from the less-common verb madden, "annoy someone," or "drive someone insane." Both words are rooted in the Old English gemædde, "out of one's mind."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Music is perhaps the purest of these art forms, tapping into our lizard brains to regulate our emotions that are seeking to make sense of this precious yet maddening existence.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026
It’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, whose maddening play once clogged up the text chains of grumpy Knicks fans, but now feel like family.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
SGA, the stylish, maddening, smooth-operating Canadian point guard, is the head of the boa constrictor.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
“It’s the most maddening thing,” he told Nguyen.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
As the maddening laughter continued, each whirling object suddenly contorted, enlarged, ballooned, stretched, shrank, into all sorts of grotesque, shifting monsters, all of them attempting to swallow me up.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
