Definitions

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

  • adjective Behaving or acting impulsively or rashly; wild.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A person who acts madly or wildly; a flighty or harebrained person; one who indulges in frolics.
  • Pertaining to or resembling a madcap; wild; harum-scarum.

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

  • noun A person of wild behavior; an excitable, rash, violent person.
  • adjective Inclined to wild sports; delighting in rash, absurd, or dangerous amusements.
  • adjective Wild; reckless.

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

  • adjective impulsive, hasty or reckless; capricious.
  • noun An impulsive, hasty, capricious person.
  • noun obsolete An insane person, a lunatic.

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

  • adjective characterized by undue haste and lack of thought or deliberation
  • noun a reckless impetuous irresponsible person

Etymologies

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

[mad + cap, head.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1580s, mad +‎ cap (“head”), literally “crazy head”. Original literal sense “lunatic, crazy person”, now used figuratively.

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Examples

  • Aug. 3 Bloomberg -- Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China's central bank will monitor U.S. efforts to tackle its debt as the official Chinese news agency criticized what it called the "madcap" brinksmanship of American lawmakers.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • How much more so must it be to papa, though he likes you, and when you are near him would perhaps, in a fit of unworldliness, be almost as reckless as the creature he calls madcap and would rather call countess.

    The Amazing Marriage — Volume 1 George Meredith 1868

  • How much more so must it be to papa, though he likes you, and when you are near him would perhaps, in a fit of unworldliness, be almost as reckless as the creature he calls madcap and would rather call countess.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868

  • It referred to a "madcap farce of brinksmanship" before the agreement was reached.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • a fit of unworldliness, be almost as reckless as the creature he calls madcap and would rather call countess.

    The Amazing Marriage — Complete George Meredith 1868

  • If a story every deserved the word madcap, it is Steven Gould's 'Peaches for Mad Molly'.

    Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: The 1989 Annual World's Best SF - Donald A. Wollheim Blue Tyson 2008

  • The fool of whom Mr. Razumov had thought was the rich and festive student known as madcap Kostia.

    Under Western Eyes Joseph Conrad 1890

  • So far more than $300 dollars has been raised for what Mr. Raymond refers to as a "madcap enterprise," towards a goal of $1,000.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed BRAD WHEELER 2012

  • So far more than $300 has been raised for what Mr. Raymond refers to as a "madcap enterprise," towards a goal of $1,000.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed BRAD WHEELER 2012

  • The overall tone is "madcap," which does fit the off-kilter medical emergency side of it.

    March 1st, 2009 metalana 2009

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