maddening
Americanadjective
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driving to madness or frenzy.
a maddening thirst.
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infuriating or exasperating.
his maddening indifference to my pleas.
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raging; furious.
a maddening wind.
adjective
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serving to send mad
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extremely annoying; exasperating
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of maddening
Explanation
Maddening things are extremely irritating: they make you mad. Some drivers have the maddening habit of following other cars too closely on the highway. If something annoys you a lot, it's maddening. You might try to ignore the maddening tune your sister keeps whistling, or decide to leave a movie half way through because of the maddening acting style of its leading man. The adjective maddening comes from the less-common verb madden, "annoy someone," or "drive someone insane." Both words are rooted in the Old English gemædde, "out of one's mind."
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.
“The list goes on and on,” says Sara Petersen, author of “Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2023
Maddening, infuriating or exasperating would have been more precise.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 20, 2021
Another program, called Maddening Whispers, is a set of software components—again, planted into a specific computer—that allow an intelligence agency to track all communications on certain specified devices.
From Slate • Mar. 7, 2017
Sneaking into the top-ten is the Carey Mulligan drama Far From the Maddening Crowd.
From Forbes • May 17, 2015
Like a wounded bull I roar, Maddening the baying hounds.
From Enamels and Cameos and other Poems by Lee, Agnes
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.
