madhouse

[ mad-hous ]

noun

, plural mad·hous·es [mad, -hou-ziz].

1. a hospital for the confinement and treatment of mentally disturbed persons.
2. a wild, confused, and often noisy place, set of circumstances, etc.:

   The office was a madhouse today.

   Synonyms: bedlam

madhouse

/ ˈmædˌhaʊs /

noun

1. a mental hospital or asylum
2. a state of uproar or confusion

Word History and Origins

Origin of madhouse¹

First recorded in 1680–90; mad + house

Example Sentences

Until the day, he says, that “Our funhouse… turned into a madhouse.”

From Washington Blade

Not so long before, executions had been popular entertainment and trips to a madhouse were like going to the circus.

From The Daily Beast

Dylan had a small role in a BBC TV drama called Madhouse on Castle Street by the Jamaican playwright Evan Jones.

From The Daily Beast

Before long, it was a madhouse—both literally and figuratively.

From The Daily Beast

And to state the obvious, Gosnell's madhouse was not what I was marching for.

From The Daily Beast

Madhouse went bust last year; the company was reportedly bought by a new owner around the time the label came to light.

From The Daily Beast

He passed the latter part of his life in poverty, and towards the close of it, was confined in a madhouse.

From Project Gutenberg

Even when a separation had been effected his tormentor persecuted him still, until she was relegated to a madhouse.

From Project Gutenberg

The awful humiliation of it unseated Robert Dale Owen's reason, and he died in the madhouse.

From Project Gutenberg

If Great Britain in 1913 was not exactly a cockpit or a madhouse, she was not without her domestic troubles.

From Project Gutenberg

I thank Heaven that he has so far recovered: he was for one whole year quite raving, and chained down in a madhouse.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• psychiatric hospital