madwoman

[ mad-woo m-uh n ]

/ ˈmædˌwʊm ən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR madwoman ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural mad·wom·en.

a woman who is or behaves as if insane.

Nearby words

madurai, madurella, madurese, maduro, maduromycosis, madwoman, madwoman of chaillot, the, madwort, madzoon, mae, mae west

Origin of madwoman

1400–50; late Middle English. See mad, woman

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for madwoman

Remember when “the madwoman in the attic” was more than just a metaphor for the female imagination?
Six Fictional Marriages that Have Gone Very, Very Wrong|Jean Hanff Korelitz|March 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Remember when it signified an actual ... “madwoman”, in an actual ... “attic”?
Six Fictional Marriages that Have Gone Very, Very Wrong|Jean Hanff Korelitz|March 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But why do voters in the sixth district of Minnesota want to be represented by a madwoman?
The GOP's Worst Medicine|Eric Alterman|April 30, 2009|DAILY BEAST
I strode up and down the room, and felt inclined to send her away by force as a madwoman.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete|Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

These were evidently the men on horseback whom the madwoman had seen.
The Tremendous Event|Maurice Leblanc
I loved him, I have loved him distractedly, like a madwoman, for the last six months.'
Original Short Stories, Volume 11 (of 13)|Guy de Maupassant
He had used the word to arrest her attention, which was wandering almost as the attention of a madwoman wanders.
The Woman With The Fan|Robert Hichens
Pepys condemns Nell Gwynn as unbearable in serious parts, but considers her beyond imitation as a madwoman.
Haunted London|Walter Thornbury

British Dictionary definitions for madwoman

madwoman

/ (ˈmædwʊmən) /

noun plural -women

a woman who is insane, esp one who behaves violently; lunatic

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012