Meanings
plural lunacies
- The state of being mad, insanity
- countableuncountableA cyclical mental disease, apparently linked to the lunar phases.
- countableuncountableInsanity implying legal irresponsibility.
- countableuncountableSomething deeply misguided.
Two days have passed since that day of lunacy. What a noise and a fuss and a chattering and an uproar there was! And what a welter of unseemliness and disorder and stupidity and bad manners! And I the cause of it all! Yet part of the scene was also ridiculous—at all events to myself it was so.
1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter VI, in The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(1867)/VI)
Synonyms & antonyms
nounfoolish or senseless behavior
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian лудост
- лудост (ludost)state of being mad
Chinese Mandarin 精神病, 神經病 /神经病
- 精神病 (jīngshénbìng)state of being mad
- 神經病 /神经病 (shénjīngbìng)state of being mad
Danish galskab
- galskabstate of being mad
Dutch maanziekte, gekheid
- maanziektecyclical mental disease, apparently linked to the lunar phases
- gekheidsomething deeply misguided
- waanzinsomething deeply misguided
- gekheidstate of being mad
- krankzinnigheidstate of being mad
- waanzinstate of being mad
Finnish hulluus, hulluus
- hulluussomething deeply misguided
- hulluusstate of being mad
French folie
- foliestate of being mad
German Verrücktheit, Wahnsinn
- Verrücktheitstate of being mad
- Wahnsinnstate of being mad
Irish gealtachas
- gealtachasstate of being mad
Italian pazzia
- pazziastate of being mad
Norwegian galskap
- galskapstate of being mad
Polish obłęd, niepoczytalność
- obłędstate of being mad
- niepoczytalnośćstate of being mad
Russian безу́мие, невменя́емость
- безу́мие (bezúmije)state of being mad
- невменя́емость (nevmenjájemostʹ)state of being mad
- помеша́тельство (pomešátelʹstvo)state of being mad
- сумасше́ствие (sumasšéstvije)state of being mad
- умопомеша́тельство (umopomešátelʹstvo)state of being mad
Spanish locura, lunatismo
- locurastate of being mad
- lunatismostate of being mad
Turkish cinnet, çılgınlık
- cinnetstate of being mad
- çılgınlıkstate of being mad
- delilikstate of being mad
Cite this entry
lunacy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunacy
“lunacy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunacy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lunacy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunacy.
Source: lunacy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.