lunatic

[loo-nuh-tik]

noun

1. (no longer in technical use; now considered offensive) an insane person.

2. a person whose actions and manner are marked by extreme eccentricity or recklessness.

3. 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

1. (no longer in technical use; now considered offensive) insane.

2. characteristic or suggestive of lunacy; wildly or recklessly foolish.

3. Older Use.,  designated for or used by the insane.

   a lunatic asylum.

4. gaily or lightheartedly mad, frivolous, eccentric, etc..

   She has a lunatic charm that is quite engaging.

lunatic

/ ˈluːnətɪk /

adjective

1. an archaic word for insane

2. foolish; eccentric; crazy

noun

1. a person who is insane

Other Word Forms

• lunatically adverb
• half-lunatic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lunatic¹

1250–1300; Middle English lunatik, from Old French lunatique, from Late Latin lūnāticus “moonstruck.” See Luna, -tic ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of lunatic¹

C13 (adj) via Old French from Late Latin lūnāticus crazy, moonstruck, from Latin lūna moon

Example Sentences

I’m not an actor, I like working at night, and I’m not going to let you bully me into becoming a Type A lunatic.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Eight years later, he’d be shot by a lunatic carrying “The Catcher in the Rye.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The film, brilliantly designed, envisions a near-future in which Manhattan has become a walled-off prison, the island’s borders lethally policed but its interior surrendered to lunatics and criminals.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Matters turn, ahem, even graver when a guard from a nearby lunatic asylum arrives to announce a madman has escaped.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"I think the Colombian authorities, when it comes to, like, the military and the police, are still very pro-American. The only problem in Colombia is a lunatic president," Rubio told reporters.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• crazed 
• cuckoo 
• maniacal