crackpot

[krak-pot]Informal.

See more synonyms for crackpot on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who is eccentric, unrealistic, or fanatical.

adjective

eccentric; impractical; fanatical: crackpot ideas.

Origin of crackpot

First recorded in 1860–65; from the phrase cracked pot

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for crackpot

Contemporary Examples

Indeed, Wolf's journey to the crackpot fringe was completed a long time ago.
From ISIS to Ebola, What Has Made Naomi Wolf So Paranoid?
Michael Moynihan
October 11, 2014
In small steps, the crackpot architectural ideas of the past are becoming built parts of our cities.
Why Architects Dream Big—and Crazy
Nate Berg
August 23, 2014
But according to the Serious Men and Women of Washington, the FRC is not a crackpot outfit.
Why Must We Take the Family Research Council Seriously?
Michael Tomasky
September 17, 2012
That has become the accepted theory, and anyone talking seriously about refrigerator mothers today would be considered a crackpot.
Study Says Older Fathers Linked to Autism, Gives Mothers a Break
Hannah Brown
August 24, 2012
Critiques were drawn of the various fashionable conservative notions, which made them seem gimmicky at best, crackpot at worst.
Can Careful Mitt Romney Go Bold on Taxes at the CNN Debate?
Peter J. Boyer
February 22, 2012

Historical Examples

So that crackpot, Graham, had finally come up with something definite.
Final Weapon
Everett B. Cole
They dismissed him as a crackpot, too, if they heard about him at all.
With No Strings Attached
Gordon Randall Garrett (AKA David Gordon)
Therefore, it wouldn't have happened—outside the crackpot fringe.
The Great Gray Plague
Raymond F. Jones
These had to be investigated—every lousy, crackpot one of them.
The Great Gray Plague
Raymond F. Jones
Projective telepathy had only been a crackpot's idea back then.
The Penal Cluster
Ivar Jorgensen (AKA Randall Garrett)

British Dictionary definitions for crackpot

crackpot

noun

an eccentric person; crank

adjective

(usually prenominal) eccentric; crazy

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

Word Origin and History for crackpot

n.

"mentally unbalanced person," by 1900, probably from crack + pot (n.1) in a slang sense of "head." Cf. crack-brain "crazy fellow" (late 16c.). Earlier it was used in a slang sense "a small-time big-shot" (1883), and by medical doctors in reference to a "metallic chinking sometimes heard when percussion is made over a cavity which communicates with a bronchus."

crackpot

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Examples from the Web for crackpot

Contemporary Examples

Indeed, Wolf's journey to the crackpot fringe was completed a long time ago.

In small steps, the crackpot architectural ideas of the past are becoming built parts of our cities.

But according to the Serious Men and Women of Washington, the FRC is not a crackpot outfit.

That has become the accepted theory, and anyone talking seriously about refrigerator mothers today would be considered a crackpot.

Critiques were drawn of the various fashionable conservative notions, which made them seem gimmicky at best, crackpot at worst.

Historical Examples

So that crackpot, Graham, had finally come up with something definite.

They dismissed him as a crackpot, too, if they heard about him at all.

Therefore, it wouldn't have happened—outside the crackpot fringe.

These had to be investigated—every lousy, crackpot one of them.

Projective telepathy had only been a crackpot's idea back then.

crackpot

Word Origin and History for crackpot

n.

Origin of crackpot