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Synonyms

craze

American  
[kreyz] / kreɪz /

verb (used with object)

crazed, crazing

  1. to derange or impair the mind of; make insane.

    He was crazed by jealousy.

  2. to make small cracks on the surface of (a ceramic glaze, paint, or the like); crackle.

  3. British Dialect. to crack.

  4. Archaic. to weaken; impair.

    to craze one's health.

  5. Obsolete. to break; shatter.

verb (used without object)

crazed, crazing

  1. to become insane; go mad.

  2. to become minutely cracked, as a ceramic glaze; crackle.

  3. Metallurgy.

    1. (of a case-hardened object) to develop reticulated surface markings; worm.

    2. (of an ingot) to develop an alligator skin as a result of being teemed into an old and worn mold.

  4. Archaic. to fall to pieces; break.

noun

  1. a popular or widespread fad, fashion, etc.; mania.

    the newest dance craze.
    Synonyms:
    mode, vogue

  2. insanity; an insane condition.

  3. a minute crack or pattern of cracks in the glaze of a ceramic object.

  4. Obsolete. flaw; defect.

craze British  
/ kreɪz /

noun

  1. a short-lived current fashion

  2. a wild or exaggerated enthusiasm

    a craze for chestnuts

  3. mental disturbance; insanity

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to make or become mad

  2. ceramics metallurgy to develop or cause to develop a fine network of cracks

  3. archaic (tr) to break

  4. archaic (tr) to weaken

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of craze

1325–75; Middle English crasen to crush < Scandinavian; compare Swedish, Norwegian krasa to shatter, crush

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.

Appeared in the October 2, 2025, print edition as 'Crypto Stockpiling Craze Cools After Red-Hot Summer'.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025

Matt Craze is the founder of UK and Chile-based Spheric Research, which studies global seafood markets.

From BBC • May 28, 2025

The California Lottery announced that a man apparently had won $1 million playing a Multiplier Craze Scratchers ticket sold last week at its CA Lottery LIVE! booth at the annual Costa Mesa event.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 4, 2024

For now, the Caitlin Clark Craze is at its zenith in the state of Iowa.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 25, 2023

Craze will go as craze has come, but the permanent force in Russian literature which now stirs the hearts of men is not to be disposed of by gossip at tea-table.

From Lectures on Russian Literature Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenef, Tolstoy by Panin, Ivan

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.