craze
Americanverb (used with object)
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to derange or impair the mind of; make insane.
He was crazed by jealousy.
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to make small cracks on the surface of (a ceramic glaze, paint, or the like); crackle.
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British Dialect. to crack.
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Archaic. to weaken; impair.
to craze one's health.
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Obsolete. to break; shatter.
verb (used without object)
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to become insane; go mad.
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to become minutely cracked, as a ceramic glaze; crackle.
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Metallurgy.
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(of a case-hardened object) to develop reticulated surface markings; worm.
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(of an ingot) to develop an alligator skin as a result of being teemed into an old and worn mold.
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Archaic. to fall to pieces; break.
noun
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a short-lived current fashion
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a wild or exaggerated enthusiasm
a craze for chestnuts
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mental disturbance; insanity
verb
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to make or become mad
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ceramics metallurgy to develop or cause to develop a fine network of cracks
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archaic (tr) to break
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archaic (tr) to weaken
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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crazesimple
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crazessimple
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have crazedperfect
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has crazedperfect
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am crazingprogressive
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are crazingprogressive
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is crazingprogressive
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have been crazingperfect progressive
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has been crazingperfect progressive
Past
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crazedsimple
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had crazedperfect
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was crazingprogressive
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were crazingprogressive
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had been crazingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
It sparked a craze where people flocked to places like parks, waterfronts and shopping malls in the hope of catching Pokémon.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
But olive brine has been quietly seasoning dishes long before social media discovered martinis, and it will continue doing so long after the next cocktail craze arrives.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
In the filing, Jersey Mike’s pitched itself as a beneficiary of the ongoing protein and GLP-1 craze.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
He promised to boost the city’s nightlife with new bars, cafes and music lounges—efforts that paid off when Zibo became the center of a barbecue craze in 2023 that drew tourists from across China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Dunstaple was dubbed the forts et origo of the triadic craze, the ‘fount and origin’ of what the French called ‘the English countenance’.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Thanks to social media and modern health crazes, hydration is no longer about just drinking water — and that has kicked off a corporate rush to develop and market more sophisticated drinks.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
This may be the right moment to consider that even the most high-flying investment crazes generally end in tears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
At its peak, Unity was a wildly popular game engine and the driving force behind viral crazes like Pokémon Go.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
The company went public at the beginning of October and has positioned itself at the crossroads of two crazes: the build-out of more data centers to power artificial intelligence and a potential U.S. nuclear-power resurgence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
The waves of recurring crime, the silly fads and crazes, the quicksilver changes in public taste, the hysteria and fears—all of these had long been mysteries to me.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
Did someone repaint the mechanical horses for children one too many times and now their eyes look crazed?
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
“It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances!”
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2026
These buyouts are absurd, an outgrowth of a crazed marketplace and undeniably screwy optics at a state university.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
It brought people who saw the hordes of crazed support as a money faucet—an opportunity to turn Tesla allegiance into a financial gold mine.
From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2025
I was still flushed and swollen, but at least I no longer looked completely crazed.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
But the Bureau of Land Management still moved to protect them with new rules that would limit mining, development and cattle crazing — all of which represent lucrative revenue for industries and the states.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 14, 2015
As bad as we’ve played, people might think I’m crazing for saying we don’t believe we’re out of it.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2011
Too thick a finish will cause cooling, crazing and cracking.
From Time Magazine Archive
No use; always the coward's "if" blocked him; and the coward's rage,—fiercest of all fury,—ravaged him, almost crazing him with his own impotence.
From The Flaming Jewel by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
I will not suffer him to wander through my land crazing the people with his tales of dreams and visions.
From The Ghost Kings by Haggard, Henry Rider
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.
