mad

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See also: MAD and mäd

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Middle English medd, madd, from Old English gemǣd (“enraged”), from gemād (“silly, mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz (compare Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), Gothic gamaiþs (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), past participle of *maidijaną (“to cripple, injure”), from Proto-Indo-European *mei (“to change”) (compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).

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, 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]

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.

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

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adverb[edit]

mad (not comparable)

  1. (slang, New England, New York and UK, dialect) 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]

Derived terms[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (now colloquial US) To madden, to anger, to frustrate.

Anagrams[edit]

Breton[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mad

  1. good

Noun[edit]

mad

  1. goodness

Danish[edit]

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia da

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse matr.

Noun[edit]

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

  1. Food.

Inflection[edit]

Inflection 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 type of bread and butter sandwich.

Inflection[edit]

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

Lojban[edit]

Rafsi[edit]

mad

  1. rafsi of marde.

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)

Welsh[edit]

Adjective[edit]

mad

  1. good
  2. lucky, fortunate
  3. suitable

Noun[edit]

mad m

  1. goodness
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