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Synonyms

lunacy

American  
[loo-nuh-see] / ˈlu nə si /

noun

plural

lunacies
  1. insanity; mental disorder.

    Synonyms:
    aberration, mania, madness, craziness, dementia, derangement
    Antonyms:
    sanity, rationality
  2. intermittent insanity, formerly believed to be related to phases of the moon.

    Antonyms:
    sanity, rationality
  3. extreme foolishness or an instance of it.

    Her decision to resign was sheer lunacy.

    Synonyms:
    stupidity, folly
  4. unsoundness of mind sufficient to incapacitate one for civil transactions: a former legal term.


lunacy British  
/ ˈluːnəsɪ /

noun

  1. (formerly) any severe mental illness

  2. foolishness or a foolish act

"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 lunacy

First recorded in 1535–45; lun(atic) + -acy

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.

“Bloodline” reminds me of the breed of darkly comic postwar novels by Robert Coover, William H. Gass, Harry Crews and others, in which regional manias stand in for a broader national lunacy.

From The Wall Street Journal

Where “I Think You Should Leave” operates like a jukebox, “The Chair Company” is a concept album extrapolating a single sight gag into a swirl of lunacy on par with an extended free jazz performance.

From Salon

But to qualify for the genre itself—and satisfy the base demands of the base—a movie is required to both accelerate toward lunacy and entertain a certain amount of mayhem.

From The Wall Street Journal

Is it hard, though, to freeze all the negativity and all the lunacy that has been directed at you?

From BBC

With a show like “And Just Like That,” faith in the series’ future is spun out of pure lunacy.

From Salon