insane

comparative more insane · comparative insaner · superlative most insane · superlative insanest

1. Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.

   And you told me not to drive But I made it home alive So you said that only proves that I'm insane

   1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses

   1 more example

   What is the cause of insanity? Nobody can answer such a sweeping question as that, but we know that certain diseases, such as syphilis, break down and destroy the brain cells and result in insanity. In fact, about one-half of all mental diseases can be attributed to such physical causes as brain lesions, alcohol, toxins, and injuries. But the other half—and this is the appalling part of the story—the other half of the people who go insane apparently have nothing organically wrong with their brain cells. In post-mortem examinations, when their brain tissues are studied under the highest-powered microscopes, they are found to be apparently just as healthy as yours and mine. Why do these people go insane?

   1933, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 41

2. Used by or relating to insane people.

   an insane asylum

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   an insane hospital

3. Causing insanity or madness.

   Were such things here, as we doe speake about? / Or haue we eaten on the insane Root, / That takes the Reason Prisoner?

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

4. informalCharacterized by excess or the utmost folly; ridiculous; impractical.

   an insane plan

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   an insane amount of money

   The preposterous altruism too![…]Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Yenshui is a fairly ordinary town situated between Tainan and Chiayi. However, during the Lantern Festival, on the 15th day of the first moon, the whole town goes insane.

   1998, Robert Storey, “South-West Taiwan”, in Taiwan (Lonely Planet), 4th edition, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 292, column 2

   And what actinic, mind-wrenching form could the countermeme take? How could human hands assemble something so devastatingly powerful and hold it steady; what human mind could wield it without exploding from the inside out? What would deploying that concept in anger do to human ideatic space? How far out from the solution is modern memetic science, a year, a century? What insane impossibility has Hughes just committed himself to?

   2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 191–192

5. slangExtremely good; incredibly amazing.

   That guy is insane at FPS games.

   3 more examples

   Cederstrand was all over the ice, whipping his sled around and firing pucks into the net. It's what Straschnitzki is aiming for. "He's insane. The turns, the shots. It's something I want to do some day."

   2018 August 8, Bill Graveland, “'I'll get better': Paralyzed Humboldt Broncos player working to improve at sledge hockey”, in CBC

   And fans echoed their responses. "You nailed it, girl! This movie is so special. Your work is insane! 💗," one person wrote. "Is there ANYTHING you can't do?! I'm impressed," said another.

   2020 August 24, Nicol Natale, “Watch Reese Witherspoon Nail a Seriously Impressive Backflip in This Throwback Video”, in Prevention

   On getting two quick eliminations, SypherPK cries out ecstatically: This gun is insane, it's the best gun ever! Woohoo!

   2020 September 19, Saahil Agnelo Periwal, “Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 4: SypherPK claims a Victory Royale by using the 'rarest' item in the game- The Galactus Gun”, in Sportskeeda

6. informalEnraged; furious.