mad

Meaning

Adj

1. (British-Isles) Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.
2. (US, informal) Angry, annoyed.
3. (informal) Used litotically to indicate satisfaction or approval.
4. (Ireland, UK, informal) Bizarre; incredible.
5. Wildly confused or excited.
6. Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
7. (colloquial, usually) Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.
8. Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.
9. (New-York, slang) Intensifier, signifying abundance or high quality of a thing; very, much or many.
10. Having impaired polarity.

Adv

Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.

Verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To be or become mad.
2. (Jamaica, US, colloquial) To madden, to anger, to frustrate.

Synonyms

crazy

insane

angry

😠

nuts

demented

furious

foolish

wild

lunatic

out of one’s mind

rabid

stupid

deranged

frantic

mentally ill

delirious

irate

frenzied

silly

unhinged

daft

enraged

barmy

loco

loony

disturbed

wacky

eccentric

nutty

reckless

upset

madman

madden

intoxicated

huffy

unbalanced

berserk

sick

🤢

sore

raging

excited

raving

cross

infuriate

crazed

abnormal

psychotic

maniac

madding

maniacal

Translations

loco

fou

verrückt

matto

pazzo

gek

wahnsinnig

arrabbiato

en colère

😠

louco

folle

τρελός

böse

dément

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmæd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: mad

Inherited from Old English: ġemǣdd

Cognate with Old English: gemād

Cognate with Old High German: gimeit

Cognate with German: gemeit

Cognate with Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃

Cognate with Old Irish: máel

Cognate with Old Lithuanian: ap-maitinti

Cognate with Sanskrit: मेथति

In summary

From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), literary German gemeit (“mad, insane”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).