unhinged
Americanadjective
-
having no hinge or hinges, or with the hinges removed.
an unhinged gate.
-
unsettled, disordered, or distraught.
He became unhinged when his friend died.
Etymology
Origin of unhinged
First recorded in 1710–20; unhinged ( def. 1 ) un- 1 + hinged ( def. ); unhinged ( def. 2 ) unhinge + -ed 2
Explanation
If someone's unhinged, they aren't completely sane. Unhinged is another way to say "crazy" or "out to lunch." Babysitting six kids between the ages of three and ten for an entire day might leave you feeling a little unhinged. More serious is when voters begin to worry that one of the presidential candidates is actually unhinged, appearing irrational and unpredictable. Unhinged stems from the less common verb unhinge, which meant "disorder the mind" before it was ever used to mean "take a door off its hinges."
Vocabulary lists containing unhinged
The Hunger Games
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And Then There Were None
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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
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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.
The film shot Curry Barker onto the A-list of new directing talent and made a star of Inde Navarrette and her virtuosically unhinged performance as Nikki.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Perhaps we really do live in a “demented slaughterhouse of a world,” as the unhinged newsman Howard Beale says in one of his apocalyptic broadcasts, and have all along.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
They have what few candidates get: the opportunity to be unhinged and distracting in the opposite direction of someone like RFK Jr.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
There was something unconsciously fitting about it all: the spectacle of one old media company offering a platform to an icon of another to say something unhinged, self-obsessed and divorced from reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Mother’s eyes slide to me, and I spot a flash of unhinged rage.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
