madcap

American  

[mad-kap] / ˈmædˌkæp /

adjective

1. wildly or heedlessly impulsive; reckless; rash.

   a madcap scheme.

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noun

1. a madcap person.

madcap British  

/ ˈmædˌkæp /

adjective

1. impulsive, reckless, or lively

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noun

1. an impulsive, reckless, or lively person

Etymology

Origin of madcap

First recorded in 1580–90; mad + cap ¹

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Explanation

Madcap things are done in a foolish, rash, or impulsive way, without planning or thought. Your madcap adventure might include a spur-of-the-moment bus ride to a nearby city without enough money in your pocket to buy lunch. The adjective madcap, which can simply mean "impetuous," can also have a sense of "funny and eccentric." A movie that's described as a madcap comedy will probably be full of broad slapstick and laugh-out-loud physical humor. Madcap, dating from the 16th century, originally meant "lunatic" or "crazy person," from the "head" sense of cap — in other words, a madcap was a "crazy head."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

madcap

You pine for an ugly deflection, a madcap own goal, one that ricochets in off McGinn's backside or the back of McBurnie's head.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

Zach Hadel brings the bloody, madcap nature of the internet to his animated sitcom “Smiling Friends.”

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

The Goodies got their own series in 1970, and the trio's slapstick comedy and madcap songs entertained millions of viewers for 12 years.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

New reads abound for your vacation tote throughout the weeks of July, with fiction picks featuring a Carnival cruise casualty, a highly entertaining jewel heist at the Waldorf-Astoria, and a Soviet-era madcap adventure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

Color was splashed through the woods as if it had been thrown about by some madcap wastrel who spilled out, during the weeks of one brief autumn, beauty enough to last for years.

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt

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