insanity

[in-san-i-tee]

noun

plural

insanities 

1. (not in technical use as a medical diagnosis) the condition of being insane; a derangement of the mind.

   Synonyms: madness, lunacy, aberration, mania, craziness

2. Law.,  such unsoundness of mind as frees one from legal responsibility, as for committing a crime, or as signals one's lack of legal capacity, as for entering into a contractual agreement.

3. Psychiatry.,  (formerly) psychosis.

4. 1. extreme foolishness.

      Trying to drive through that traffic would be pure insanity.

   2. a foolish or senseless action, policy, statement, etc..

      We've heard decades of insanities in our political discourse.

insanity

/ ɪnˈsænɪtɪ /

noun

1. relatively permanent disorder of the mind; state or condition of being insane

2. law a defect of reason as a result of mental illness, such that a defendant does not know what he or she is doing or that it is wrong

3. utter folly; stupidity

Word History and Origins

Origin of insanity¹

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin insānitāt-, stem of insānitās “unsoundness of mind, insanity”; in- ³, sanity

Example Sentences

Her lawyers had argued she was not guilty by reason of insanity and that the death of her husband in 2017 sent her into a depressive spiral.

Read more on Barron's

The level of insanity that surrounded them was unimaginable.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Another factor has fueled both the Fuentes debacle and the shutdown insanity: social media.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The world might wake up to this insanity next week.

Read more on Literature

As for Pets.com, which ended up as the poster child for dot-com insanity?

Read more on MarketWatch

Related Words

• absurdity 
• alienation 
• craziness 
• folly 
• frenzy 
• hysteria 
• irresponsibility www.thesaurus.com
• lunacy 
• madness 
• mental disorder