madcap

[ mad-kap ]
See synonyms for madcap on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. wildly or heedlessly impulsive; reckless; rash: a madcap scheme.

noun
  1. a madcap person.

Origin of madcap

1
First recorded in 1580–90; mad + cap1

Words Nearby madcap

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use madcap in a sentence

  • We should have thought at once the prank that madcap would be at!

    Dorothy's Travels | Evelyn Raymond
  • Jean was a bunch of nervous impulses, and no one ever knew where the madcap would bounce up next.

    Three Little Women | Gabrielle E. Jackson
  • Captain Jack was open and generous, though a little given to rash enterprise and madcap adventure.

    Richard Carvel, Complete | Winston Churchill
  • He shall go to Paris instead of those madcap youngsters with their parties.

    Dry Fish and Wet | Anthon Bernhard Elias Nilsen
  • The fiend receive George of Douglas and thee too, thou born madcap and sworn marplot!

    The Abbot | Sir Walter Scott

British Dictionary definitions for madcap

madcap

/ (ˈmædˌkæp) /


adjective
  1. impulsive, reckless, or lively

noun
  1. an impulsive, reckless, or lively person

Origin of madcap

1
C16: from mad + cap (in the figurative sense: head)

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