psychotic
Americanadjective
-
Psychiatry. relating to, characterized by, or exhibiting psychosis: psychotic symptoms;
a psychotic patient;
psychotic symptoms;
psychotic delusion.
- Synonyms:
- non compos mentis, demented, deranged, disturbed, mad, mentally ill, psychopathic, insane
- Antonyms:
- lucid, rational, compos mentis, sane
-
(loosely) mentally unstable.
The man who threw a stone through the convenience store window must be psychotic.
-
intensely upset, anxious, or angry; crazy.
My dad gets so psychotic when I come home even a little bit late.
- Antonyms:
- self-possessed, calm
noun
-
psychotics
plural
adjective
noun
Usage
It is preferable to talk about a person experiencing psychosis rather than a psychotic , which reduces a person's individuality
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of psychotic
First recorded in 1885–85; psych(osis) + -otic
Explanation
As an adjective, psychotic describes something that is of or related to an abnormal mental condition often characterized by delusions or hallucinations. Psychotic episodes, for example, are periods of mental instability when people lose contact with reality. Psychotic is based on the Greek word psykhe, which means mind. As a noun, psychotic is a person suffering from psychosis — that is delusions, hallucinations, or any mental state that includes a loss of reality. Although the noun officially refers to the medical diagnosis, it is sometimes used as a slang to refer to anyone behaving in an erratic manner: "Your friend is a total psychotic! He was jumping on the tables at lunch and shouting song lyrics."
Vocabulary lists containing psychotic
Body Language: Psych ("Mind")
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This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for December 26, 2020—January 1, 2021
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The Martian Chronicles
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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.
See Examples For:
According to the district psychiatrist's report, Schreiber "was in a psychotic state at the time of the act and is not substantively fit to stand trial".
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
But to make some generalization that all career women are psychotic because Glenn Close happened to be psychotic at the end of that movie is just silly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Laidlaw said: "He was in a psychotic state and had lost contact with reality. He was not able to distinguish what was real and what was not. He was hearing voices and had delusional beliefs."
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
“Obsession” is supposed to be a horror movie about a dangerously psychotic girlfriend, yet the couple found themselves exchanging looks a bit too frequently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Clearly I’m not going to be able to overpower them—especially with their psychotic red-haired pit bull around.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
By and large, the world is increasingly run by ignoramuses, wackos and psychotics.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2019
He became known as the Donz and found friendship in an AOL community made up of what he jokingly described as “like-minded psychotics who are as interested in this guy as I am.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 6, 2017
While much has been made of its links to other jihadists in Africa and elsewhere, these alliances have little practical effect, being little more than the distant salutes from one group of psychotics to another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2016
Could bad tempers be an outdated luxury of baby boomers? Maniacs, as Jesus said of the poor, will always be with us, though I’m not talking about rampaging psychotics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2016
“Yes. If hallucinations can appear this ‘real’ to us, to anyone, if hallucinations are catching and almost believable, it’s no wonder they mistook us for psychotics.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
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.
