lunatic
Americannoun
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(no longer in technical use; now considered offensive) an insane person.
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a person whose actions and manner are marked by extreme eccentricity or recklessness.
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a person legally declared to be of unsound mind and who therefore is not held capable or responsible before the law: a former legal term.
adjective
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(no longer in technical use; now considered offensive) insane.
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characteristic or suggestive of lunacy; wildly or recklessly foolish.
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Older Use. designated for or used by the insane.
a lunatic asylum.
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gaily or lightheartedly mad, frivolous, eccentric, etc..
She has a lunatic charm that is quite engaging.
adjective
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an archaic word for insane
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foolish; eccentric; crazy
noun
Other Word Forms
- half-lunatic adjective
- lunatically adverb
Etymology
Origin of lunatic
1250–1300; Middle English lunatik, from Old French lunatique, from Late Latin lūnāticus “moonstruck.” See Luna, -tic ( def. )
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.
That Tomás, who has already survived the Great Hunger as well as a cruel workhouse, isn’t already a lunatic is perhaps less fantastical than the plot itself at times.
From Los Angeles Times
We might not be capable of atrocities, but in our dreams we’re all occasionally raving lunatics, giving vent to feelings we keep buried away in the light of day.
From Los Angeles Times
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” said Steven Cheung, White House communications director.
Social media can efficiently make any lunatic theory an ineradicable and ever-evolving virus.
As I crouched behind a rippling fountain, stretching and contorting my body to attain the correct angle, I began to wonder, “Do the Lumineers think I’m some kind of a lunatic?”
From Los Angeles Times
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.
