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Synonyms

mad as a hatter

Idioms  

  1. Also, mad as a March hare. Crazy, demented, as in She is throwing out all his clothes; she's mad as a hatter. This expression, dating from the early 1800s, alludes to exposure to the chemicals formerly used in making felt hats, which caused tremors and other nervous symptoms. The variant, dating from the 14th century, alludes to the crazy behavior of hares during rutting season, mistakenly thought to be only in March.

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.

It doesn’t take long for Onion to realize that Brown, for all his noble ambitions of emancipation, is as mad as a hatter.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2021

Simply mad as a hatter how brief the wait was for this glow-in-the-dark classic.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2021

During various episodes in his life, Lowell was as mad as a hatter, but in poems like these he went crazy for a purpose.

From The Guardian • Sep. 26, 2020

Because part of the illusion we were creating was that he was mad as a hatter.

From Washington Times • Dec. 28, 2014

Mr. Leroy was spitting and looking mad as a hatter.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis

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.