insane

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin īnsānus (“unsound in mind; mad, insane”), from in- + sānus (“sound, sane”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈseɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn

Adjective

insane (comparative more insane or insaner, superlative most insane or insanest)

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

   Synonyms: delirious, distracted

   • 1936, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People‎^[1], page 41:

     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?

2. Used by, or appropriated to, insane persons

   an insane hospital

   an insane asylum

3. Causing insanity or madness.
4. Characterized by insanity or the utmost folly; ridiculous; impractical

   an insane plan

   an insane amount of money

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:insane

Antonyms

• sane

Related terms

• insanity

Translations

exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: مَجْنُون (ar) (majnūn), مَخْبُول (maḵbūl)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: луд (bg) (lud), душевноболен (bg) (duševnobolen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精神失常 (jīngshén shīcháng), 精神錯亂／精神错乱 (zh) (jīngshén cuòluàn), 精神错乱 (zh) (jīngshén cuòluàn), 瘋狂／疯狂 (zh) (fēngkuáng), 疯狂 (zh) (fēngkuáng), 發狂／发狂 (zh) (fākuáng), 发狂 (zh) (fākuáng)

• Czech: šílený (cs)
• Danish: sindssyg (da)
• Dutch: gestoord (nl), waanzinnig (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: mielenvikainen (fi), hullu (fi)
• French: dérangé (fr), délirant (fr), fou (fr), dément (fr)
• Galician: tolo m, louco m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: wahnsinnig (de), verrückt (de), geisteskrank (de)
• Greek: παράφρων (el) m (paráfron), τρελός (el) m (trelós)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: पागल (hi) (pāgal)
• Hungarian: őrült (hu), elmebeteg (hu), bolond (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: sinting (id), edan (id)
• Italian: insano (it), pazzo (it), folle (it)
• Japanese: 気が狂った (きがくるった, ki ga kurutta), 狂しい (くるおしい, kuruoshii), 頭がおかしい (あたまがおかしい, atama ga okashii)
• Javanese: kentir (jv), pekok (jv), edan (jv)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: dēmēns, īnsānus, vēcors
• Latvian: ārprātīgs, traks, vājprātīgs
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Old English: wōd
• Pashto: لېونی (ps) (lewanay)
• Persian: مجنون (fa) (majnun), دیوانه (fa) (divâne)
• Polish: szalony (pl) m, obłąkany (pl) m, porąbany (pejorative), pojebany (pl) (vulgar), jebnięty (vulgar), popierdolony (pl) (vulgar), pierdolnięty (pl) (vulgar), świrnięty (expressive), zdurniały (pejorative)
• Portuguese: insano (pt), doido (pt), louco (pt), débil mental (pt)
• Romanian: nebun (ro), alienat (ro), dement (ro), dezechilibrat psihic
• Russian: душевнобольно́й (ru) m (duševnobolʹnój), невменя́емый (ru) m (nevmenjájemyj), сумасше́дший (ru) m (sumasšédšij)
• Spanish: enfermo mental, loco (es) m, demente (es), enajenado (es) m, alienado (es) m, perturbado (es) m, desequilibrado (es) m, chiflado (es) m (colloquial), chalado (es) m (colloquial), ido (es) m, vesánico (es) m, desquiciado (es) m, sonado (es) m, trastornado (es) m, pirado (es) m
• Swedish: vansinnig (sv), galen (sv), sinnessjuk (sv)
• Tagalog: baliw (tl)
• Thai: บ้า (bâa)
• Tibetan: སྨྱོན་པ (smyon pa)
• Urdu: پاگل (pāgal)
• Vietnamese: điên (vi), cuồng (vi)

used by, or appropriated to, insane persons

• Dutch: gekken-, krankzinnigen-
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: szaleńczy (pl) m

causing insanity or madness

• Bulgarian: подлудяващ (bg) (podludjavašt)
• French: dérangeant (fr) m, démentiel (fr) m, malsain (fr) m
• Portuguese: enlouquecedor
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: demențial (ro), înnebunitor (ro)

characterized by insanity or the utmost folly

• Bulgarian: невменяем (bg) (nevmenjaem)
• Danish: sindssyg (da)
• Finnish: hullu (fi)
• French: fou (fr) m, chimérique (fr) m, aberrant (fr) m, délirant (fr) m
• Greek: παράφρων (el) m (paráfron), τρελός (el) m (trelós)
• Hungarian: őrült (hu), bolond (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Indonesian: gila (id)
• Italian: folle (it), pazzo (it)
• Polish: szaleńczy (pl) m
• Portuguese: insano (pt)
• Romanian: himeric (ro), nebunesc (ro), delirant (ro)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} dementa (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} demente

Further reading

• “insane”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “insane”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “insane”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Annies, Sannie, Sienna, inanes, nenias, sienna

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] English insane

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.san/

Adjective

insane (plural insanes)

1. crazy
2. foolish

Further reading

• “insane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian

Adjective

insane f pl

1. feminine plural of insano

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Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) īnsāne

1. vocative masculine singular of īnsānus

References

• “insane”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “insane”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• insane in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.