Word.ws English Dictionary

craze

/kɹeɪz/

craze noun: a strong habitual desire or fancy.

Noun

craze (plural crazes)

  1. A strong habitual desire or fancy.
  2. A temporary passion or infatuation, as for some new amusement, pursuit, or fashion; a fad.
    • Have you heard about the new dance craze? / Listen to us, I'm sure you'll be amazed / Big fun to be had by everyone / It's up to you, it surely can be done1978 September 21, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, “Le Freak”, in C'est Chic, performed by Chic, track 2
    • Winemaking was a huge craze in the 1970s, when affordable package holidays to the continent gave people a taste for winedrinking, but the recession made it hard to afford off-license prices back home.2012, Alan Titchmarsh, The Complete Countryman: A User's Guide to Traditional Skills and Lost Crafts
    Synonyms:
    bug
  3. A crack in the glaze or enamel caused by exposure of the pottery to great or irregular heat.
  4. (archaic) Craziness; insanity.
    • ‘A poor fellow with a craze, sir,’ said Mr. Dick, ‘a simpleton, a weak-minded person […] may do what wonderful people may not do. […]’1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC

Verb

craze (third-person singular simple present crazes, present participle crazing, simple past and past participle crazed)

  1. (archaic) To weaken; to impair; to render decrepit.
    • till length of years / And ſedentary numneſs craze my limbs1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 39, lines...
  2. To derange the intellect of; to render insane.
    • any man […] that is crazed and out of his wits1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], London: […] B. Aylmer...
    • Grief hath crazed my wits.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  3. To be crazed, or to act or appear as one that is crazed; to rave; to become insane.
    • And if Robin should be cast / Sudden from his turfed grave, / And if Marian should have / Once again her forest days, / She would weep and he would craze: [...]1820, John Keats, “Robin Hood”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 135
  4. (archaic, intransitive, transitive) To break into pieces; to crush; to grind to powder. See crase.
    • God looking forth will trouble all his Hoſt / And craze thir Chariot wheels:1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  5. (intransitive, transitive) To crack, as the glazing of porcelain or pottery.

craze meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

craze in Tamil

ஆர்வம், நாட்டம், பற்று, வெறி, பரந்தமென்வெடிப்பு, வெடிப்பு

craze in Marathi

क्रेझ

craze in Urdu

حالت دیوانگی, خبط, پاگل پن, سودا

craze in Bengali

উন্মাদনা, প্রবল জনপ্রিয়তা
More languagesFewer languages
craze in Malayalam
ഭ്രമം bhramaṁ
craze in Kannada
ಹುಚ್ಚು, ಗೀಳು
craze in Punjabi
ਕ੍ਰੇਜ਼
craze in Gujarati
ક્રેઝ
craze in Odia
କ୍ରେଜ୍
craze in Nepali
क्रेज
craze in Vietnamese
mốt

Examples of craze in a sentence

  • The crazed look in his eyes made everyone back away.
  • He was crazed with thirst and resorted to drinking seawater.
  • Craze lines are thin, usually dark lines that appear to be superficial, without separation of adjacent segments.

All 40 example sentences with craze

Synonyms of craze

Forms of craze

Noun
pluralcrazes
alternative formcrase
alternative formcraise
alternative formcraize
Verb
third-person singular presentcrazes
present participlecrazing
past participlecrazed
pastcrazed

Past tense of craze: crazed

Plural of craze: crazes

Origin of craze

From Middle English crasen (“to crush, break, break to pieces, shatter, craze”), from Old Norse *krasa (“to shatter”), ultimately imitative. Cognate with Scots krass (“to crush, squeeze, wrinkle”), Icelandic krasa (“to crackle”), Norwegian krasa (“to shatter, crush”), Swedish krasa (“to crack, crackle”), Danish krase (“to crack, crackle”), Faroese kras (“small pieces”).

Words formed from craze

Phrases with craze

Words that rhyme with craze

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about craze

What does craze mean?
Craze means a strong habitual desire or fancy.
What is craze in Tamil?
Craze in Tamil is ஆர்வம், நாட்டம், பற்று. See Craze meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is craze?
Craze can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce craze?
Craze is pronounced /kɹeɪz/.
What is the plural of craze?
The plural of craze is crazes.

Words near craze in the dictionary

  1. Craytons
  2. craytur
  3. crayturs
  4. crayweed
  5. craz'd
  6. craze
  7. craze line
  8. craze lines
  9. crazed
  10. crazedly
  11. crazedness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: craze (page history and authors); craze (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); craze (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); craze (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); craze (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ഭ്രമം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); craze (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); craze (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); craze (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); craze (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); craze (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-craze.ogg.

Cite this entry: “craze.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/craze. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.