Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, exhibiting, or afflicted with mental derangement. Not used in psychiatric diagnosis.
  • adjective Characteristic of or associated with persons who are mentally deranged.
  • adjective Intended for use by such persons.
  • adjective Having been determined to be in a condition that meets the legal definition of insanity.
  • adjective Immoderate; wild.
  • adjective Very foolish; absurd.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not sane; unsound or deranged in mind; crazy.
  • Characteristic of a person mentally deranged; hence, wild; insensate; senseless.
  • Devoted to the use or care of the insane: as, an insane asylum.
  • Making insane; causing insanity.
  • Synonyms Crazed, lunatic, demented, maniacal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; mad; deranged in mind; delirious; distracted. See insanity, 2.
  • adjective Used by, or appropriated to, insane persons.
  • adjective rare Causing insanity or madness.
  • adjective Characterized by insanity or the utmost folly; chimerical; unpractical

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; mad; deranged in mind; delirious; distracted.
  • adjective Used by, or appropriated to, insane persons; as, an insane hospital.
  • adjective Causing insanity or madness.
  • adjective Characterized by insanity or the utmost folly; chimerical; unpractical; as, an insane plan, attempt, etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective very foolish
  • adjective afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin īnsānus : in-, not; see in– + sānus, sane, healthy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin īnsānus ("unsound in mind; mad, insane"), from in- + sānus ("sound, sane").

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Examples

  • The term insane is outdated parlance in the mental health community.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • Under Section 16 of Canada's Criminal Code, a person is deemed to be not criminally responsible the term 'insane' having been scrapped if the crime was committed while "suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing that it was wrong."

    CBC | Top Stories News 2011

  • when hitler started the pracitice of euthenasia he started with his own people in the insane asylums, and the term insane back then is not what we consider it to be now.. a kid with ADD or midly slow could be "put down".. all part of the "not fit to work not fit for life" campiagn.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • when hitler started the pracitice of euthenasia he started with his own people in the insane asylums, and the term insane back then is not what we consider it to be now.. a kid with ADD or midly slow could be "put down".. all part of the "not fit to work not fit for life" campiagn.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • when hitler started the pracitice of euthenasia he started with his own people in the insane asylums, and the term insane back then is not what we consider it to be now.. a kid with ADD or midly slow could be "put down".. all part of the "not fit to work not fit for life" campiagn.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • I think the word insane is appropriate in your blog, however awesome?

    If you pay them enough, they'll massage your feet with any of them sauces Tyler 2009

  • He remembers what he calls the "insane" calculus of Mutually Assured Destruction, which dominated Cold War policy.

    Fearsome Peacekeepers Arthur Herman 2011

  • Look at what I call the insane spending of government in America.

    The Relentless Conservative: If Europe Is a Bellwether for America: Economic Ruin... Comin' Right Up! The Relentless Conservative 2011

  • She did not manage to get the word "insane" out, for another wave of agony hit her, far worse than the previous.

    Dark Allies Peter David 1999

  • As a matter of fact, the doctor, when he came the next day, was in a towering rage with Mrs. Van Shaw over what he called her insane yielding to the request of a delirious patient.

    The High Calling Charles Monroe Sheldon 1901

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