insane
/ɪnˈseɪn/
insane adjective: exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
Adjective
insane (comparative more insane or insaner, superlative most insane or insanest)
- Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
- What is the cause of insanity? Nobody can answer such a sweeping question as that, but we know that certain diseases, such as syphilis, break down and destroy the brain cells and result in insanity. In fact, about one-half of all mental diseases can be attributed to such physical causes as brain...1933, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 41
- And you told me not to drive
But I made it home alive
So you said that only proves that I'm insane1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses
- Used by or relating to insane people.
- an insane hospital
- an insane asylum
- Causing insanity or madness.
- Were such things here, as we doe speake about? / Or haue we eaten on the insane Root, / That takes the Reason Prisoner?c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Characterized by excess or the utmost folly; ridiculous; impractical.
- an insane plan
- an insane amount of money
- Extremely good; incredibly amazing.
- That guy is insane at FPS games.
- Cederstrand was all over the ice, whipping his sled around and firing pucks into the net. It's what Straschnitzki is aiming for. "He's insane. The turns, the shots. It's something I want to do some day."2018 August 8, Bill Graveland, “'I'll get better': Paralyzed Humboldt Broncos player working to improve at sledge hockey”, in CBC
- Enraged; furious.
insane meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
insane in Hindi
- exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind
- पागल pāgal, दीवाना dīvānā
insane in Tamil
- அறிவு குலைந்த, பித்துப் பிடித்த, மனநிலை குலைந்த, வெறியார்ந்த, மதிகெட்ட, தன்னிலை மறந்த
insane in Urdu
- exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind
- پاگل pāgal, دیوانہ dīvānā
insane in Bengali
- exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind
- পাগল pagol, দেওয়ানা deōẇana
More languagesFewer languages
- insane in Malayalam
- ഭ്രാന്തുള്ള, ഭ്രാന്തചിത്ത, മതിഭ്രഷ്ട, ബുദ്ധിഭ്രമമുള്ള
- insane in Kannada
- ಹುಚ್ಚುಹಿಡಿದ, ಬುದ್ಧಿವಿಕಲ್ಪದ, ತಲೆಕೆಟ್ಟ, ತಿಳಿಗೇಡಿತನದ
- insane in Punjabi
- ਪਾਗਲ pāgal
- insane in Nepali
- बौलाहा baulāhā, पागल pāgal
- insane in Pashto
- لېونی lewanay, مجنون majnǔn
- insane in Tagalog
- baliw
- insane in Arabic
- مَجْنُون majnūn, مَخْبُول maḵbūl
- insane in Malay
- gila
- insane in Indonesian
- sinting, edan, gila
- insane in Persian
- مجنون majnun, دیوانه divâne
- insane in Thai
- บ้า bâa
- insane in Vietnamese
- điên, cuồng, điên rồ
- insane in Myanmar
- ရူး ru:
Examples of insane in a sentence
- But the other half—and this is the appalling part of the story—the other half of the people who go insane apparently have nothing organically wrong with their brain cells.1933, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 41:
- It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- However, during the Lantern Festival, on the 15th day of the first moon, the whole town goes insane.1998, Robert Storey, “South-West Taiwan”, in Taiwan (Lonely Planet), 4th edition, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 292, column 2:
- What insane impossibility has Hughes just committed himself to?2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 191–192:
Synonyms of insane
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of insane
| comparative | more insane |
|---|---|
| comparative | insaner |
| superlative | most insane |
| superlative | insanest |
Origin of insane
From Latin īnsānus (“unsound in mind; mad, insane”), from in- + sānus (“sound, sane”), equivalent to in- + sane.
Words formed from insane
Phrases with insane
Words that rhyme with insane
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
- terrain
Questions about insane
- What does insane mean?
- Insane means exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
- What is insane in Hindi?
- Insane in Hindi is पागल (pāgal), दीवाना (dīvānā). See Insane meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use insane in a sentence?
- But the other half—and this is the appalling part of the story—the other half of the people who go insane apparently have nothing organically wrong with their brain cells.
- What part of speech is insane?
- Insane is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce insane?
- Insane is pronounced /ɪnˈseɪn/.
Words near insane in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: insane (page history and authors); insane (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); insane (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); insane (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪਾਗਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-insane.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-insane.wav.
Cite this entry: “insane.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/insane. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.