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. See insane
   an archaic word for insane
2. foolish; eccentric; crazy

noun

1. a person who is insane

Derived Forms

• luˈnatically, adverb

Other Words From

• lu·nati·cal·ly adverb
• half-luna·tic 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 a technical person, and I’d be screaming and talking at the screen, acting like a lunatic in my apartment, and they can’t hear you.

From The Daily Beast

It was the lunatic energy we needed in month 475 of pandemic boredom.

From The Daily Beast

I should note that in the past I have launched other lunatic diets — anything that could cause the loss of a pound or two and result in a column.

From Washington Post

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a newly elected member from rural Georgia, has been widely and rightly reviled for her lunatic views.

From Washington Post

The veterans both see the same “lunatics are taking over the asylum” script taking hold, especially in the last few weeks, that presaged past meltdowns.

From Fortune

Fine, but there are lunatic sums of money being spent on art, surely?

From The Daily Beast

It could also be true that she really was an insufferable lunatic afraid of catching Ebola from the plebeians.

From The Daily Beast

“I saw a lunatic, simply stated,” the victim, a contractor from nearby Bristol, told police.

From The Daily Beast

Everyone on the sidewalk looked at her like she was a lunatic, but she didn't care—she wanted that part.

From The Daily Beast

There is only one word which I loathe more than I do lunatic and that word is crazy.

From The Daily Beast

Unfortunately, as you say, I was present, and I tell you that our friend Barbiche behaved like a lunatic.

From Project Gutenberg

And I should say the same of a still-born baby that I had never seen alive, or of a lunatic whom I had not once seen sane.

From Project Gutenberg

The provision of a lodging for a lunatic was, moreover, an exception to the prohibition of the payment of rent for a pauper.

From Project Gutenberg

Moreover, the Central Authority took no steps to get such persons removed to lunatic asylums.

From Project Gutenberg

There, get along; if he were not so grossly immoral, he would be fit to shut up in a lunatic asylum.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• crazed
• cuckoo
• maniacal