mad

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See also: Mad, MAD, and mäd

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣdd, 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”), 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”)).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /mæd/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -æd

Adjective[edit]

mad (comparative madder, superlative maddest)

  1. Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.
    You want to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes? Are you mad?
    He's got this mad idea that he's irresistible to women.
    • Shakespeare
      I have heard my grandsire say full oft, / Extremity of griefs would make men mad.
  2. (chiefly US; UK dated + regional) Angry, annoyed.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 6, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.
    Are you mad at me?
  3. Wildly confused or excited.
    to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred
    • Bible, Jer. 1. 88
      It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
    • 1787: The Fair Syrian, R. Bage, p.314
      My brother, quiet as a cat, seems perfectly contented with the internal feelings of his felicity. The Marquis, mad as a kitten, is all in motion to express it, from tongue to heel.
  4. Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
  5. (colloquial, usually with for or about) Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.
    Aren't you just mad for that red dress?
  6. (of animals) Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.
    a mad dog
  7. (slang, chiefly Northeastern US) Intensifier, signifies an abundance or high quality of a thing; very, much or many.
    I gotta give you mad props for scoring us those tickets.   Their lead guitarist has mad skills.   There are always mad girls at those parties.
  8. (of a compass needle) Having impaired polarity.

Usage notes[edit]

Within Commonwealth countries other than Canada, mad typically implies the insane or crazy sense more so than the angry sense.

While within the United States and Canada, the word mad does generally imply anger rather than insanity, such usage is still considered informal. Furthermore, if one is described as having "gone mad" or "went mad", this will unquestionably be taken as denoting insanity, and not anger. Meanwhile, if one "is mad at" something or has "been mad about" something, it will be assumed that they are angered rather than insane. In addition, if the word is understood as being used literally, it will most likely be taken as meaning "insane". Also, in addition to the former, such derivatives as "madness", "madman", "madhouse" and "madly" purely denote insanity, irrespective of whether one is in the Commonwealth or in the United States.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adverb[edit]

mad (not comparable)

  1. (slang, New England, New York and Britain, dialectal) Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.
    He was driving mad slow.
    It's mad hot today.
    He seems mad keen on her.

Synonyms[edit]

Verb[edit]

mad (third-person singular simple present mads, present participle madding, simple past and past participle madded)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To be or become mad. [14th-19th c.]
    • 1852, Washington Irving, Tales from the Alhambra:
      The imperial Elizabetta gazed with surprise at the youthful and unpretending appearance of the little being that had set the world madding.
  2. (now colloquial US) To madden, to anger, to frustrate. [from 15th c.]
    • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, Act V Scene 5:
      This musick mads me, let it sound no more.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection iv:
      He that mads others, if he were so humoured, would be as mad himself, as much grieved and tormented […].

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from mad (all parts of speech)

Anagrams[edit]

Breton[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.

Adjective[edit]

mad

  1. good

Noun[edit]

mad

  1. goodness

Danish[edit]

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse matr.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mad c (singular definite maden, not used in plural form)

  1. food.

Inflection[edit]

Declension of mad
common
gender 		Singular
indefinite definite
nominative mad maden
genitive mads madens

Derived terms[edit]

Noun[edit]

mad c (singular definite madden, plural indefinite madder)

  1. A slice of bread with something on top.

Usage notes[edit]

Very compound-prone; see for example ostemad or pølsemad.

Inflection[edit]

Declension of mad
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative mad madden madder madderne
genitive mads maddens madders maddernes

Old Irish[edit]

Verb[edit]

mad

  1. third-person singular present subjunctive of masu
  2. third-person singular past subjunctive of masu

Palauan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *mata, from Proto-Austronesian *maCa.

Noun[edit]

mad

  1. (anatomy) eye (organ), face, facial expression
  2. front; area, space or time in front of
    Medal a blik. ― In front of my house.
    El mo er a medad. ― In the future[1].
  3. aperture, access, entrance

Inflection[edit]

Possessives of mad
Singular Plural
First inclusive medad
exclusive medak medemam
Second medam medemiu
Third medal mederir

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Literally, what extends beyond (in the direction of) our face.

References[edit]

  • mad in Palauan Language Online: Palauan-English Dictionary, at tekinged.com.
  • mad in Palauan-English Dictionary, at trussel2.com.
  • mad in Lewis S. Josephs; Edwin G. McManus; Masa-aki Emesiochel (1977) Palauan-English Dictionary, University Press of Hawaii, →ISBN, page 139.

Welsh[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mad (feminine singular mad, plural mad)

  1. good
  2. lucky, fortunate
  3. suitable

Noun[edit]

mad m

  1. goodness

Mutation[edit]

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
mad fad unchanged unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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