insanity
/ɪnˈsænɪti/
insanity noun: the state of being insane; madness.
Noun
insanity (countable and uncountable, plural insanities)
- The state of being insane; madness.
- The defendant pleaded insanity in the hope of getting a reduced sentence.
- But the bed-side of Lady Marchmont had a darker lesson than the grave, the ravings of insanity revealed the fiery world of that beating and passionate heart. Ethel could only feel too fearful, too humbled, for judgment; but she wept, even while she prayed, beside her early friend.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Chamber of Death”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 271
- Synonyms:
- bedlamism, brainsickness, craze, craziness, derangement, insaneness, lunacy, lune, madness, mental disorder
insanity meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
insanity in Hindi
- state of being insane
- पागलपन pāgalpan, जुनून junūn
insanity in Tamil
- பித்துநிலை, பித்து, உளநிலை மாற்றம், பைத்தியம், மதிகேடு, மதியீனம்
insanity in Urdu
- state of being insane
- پاگَل پَن pāgal pan, جُنُون junūn
insanity in Bengali
- insanity, madness
- উন্মত্ততা unmottota
More languagesFewer languages
- insanity in Telugu
- పిచ్చి picci
- insanity in Malayalam
- കിറുക്ക് kiṟukkŭ
- insanity in Kannada
- ಪುರ್ಚು, ಪುಚ್ಚು, ಹುಚ್ಚು, ಬುದ್ಧಿವಿಕಲ್ಪ
- insanity in Punjabi
- ਪਾਗਲਪਣ pāglapaṇ
- insanity in Pashto
- پاګلتوب pāgiltób, جنون junūn
- insanity in Tagalog
- kabaliwan
- insanity in Arabic
- جُنُون junūn
- insanity in Malay
- gila, kegilaan
- insanity in Indonesian
- kesintingan, kegilaan
- insanity in Thai
- ความวิกลจริต kwaam-wí-gon-jà-rìt, ความบ้า kwaam-bâa
- insanity in Vietnamese
- tính trạng điên, sự điên rồ, sự điên loạn, sự điên
- insanity in Myanmar
- အရူး a.ru:, ရူးသွပ်ခြင်း ru:swaphkrang:, ရူးမူးခြင်း ru:mu:hkrang:, စိတ္တဇနာ citta.ja.na
Examples of insanity in a sentence
- His actions verge on insanity, making everyone nervous.
- Already a mentally fragile boy, he now edged towards insanity.
- Adler's prose seeks to catch the whispers and chirpings of insanity rather than the lamentations of suffering.
Synonyms of insanity
- bedlamism
- brainsickness
- craze
- craziness
- derangement
- insaneness
- lunacy
- madness
- mental disorder
- mental illness
Antonyms
Forms of insanity
| plural | insanities |
|---|
Origin of insanity
A three-part word (root 'sane', prefix 'in-' meaning 'not', suffix '-ity', meaning 'the state of'). Derived from Latin precursory equivalents. Two possible candidates for construction order: * insane + -ity: īnsānus (“unhealthy; insane”) + -itās *: Latin īnsānus (“unsound in mind; mad, insane”), from in- + sānus (“sound, sane”). Modern forms of roots: in- + sane * in- + sanity: in- (“lacking; without”) + sānitās (“health; sanity”) *: Latin sānitās (“sound in mind; sane”), from sānus + -itās. Modern forms of roots: sane + -ity
Words formed from insanity
Questions about insanity
- What does insanity mean?
- Insanity means the state of being insane; madness.
- What is insanity in Hindi?
- Insanity in Hindi is पागलपन (pāgalpan), जुनून (junūn). See Insanity meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is insanity?
- Insanity is a noun.
- How do you pronounce insanity?
- Insanity is pronounced /ɪnˈsænɪti/ (US).
- What is the plural of insanity?
- The plural of insanity is insanities.
Words near insanity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: insanity (page history and authors); insanity (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); উন্মত্ততা (Bengali) (page history and authors); കിറുക്ക് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); insanity (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: en-us-insanity.ogg.
Cite this entry: “insanity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/insanity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.