Word.ws English Dictionary

madcap

Syllables: mad·capUK/ˈmædkæp//ˈmædˌkæp/

madcap noun: a person who acts in a capricious, impulsive, or reckless manner.

Noun

madcap (plural madcaps)

  1. A person who acts in a capricious, impulsive, or reckless manner.
    • Near-synonyms: mad lad, madlad
    • Come-on you mad-cap: Ile to the Ale-houſe vvith you preſently; […]c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    Synonyms:
    mad lad, madlad
  2. (South-Asia) A very foolish or irresponsible person; a fool, an idiot.
    • [R]un around as he commands. He is a madcap and we must learn to live with him. We are in his hands.1983, R[asipuram] K[rishnaswami] Narayan[aswami], A Tiger for Malgudi, New Delhi; Navrangpura, Ahmedabad: Allied Publishers [in arrangement with William Heinemann], →OCLC, page 50
  3. (obsolete, rare) An insane person; a lunatic.
    • VVhy vvhat a mad-cap hath heauen lent vs here?c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • Bel[lamont]. […] [W]hat place is this? / May[bery]. Bedlam iſt not? / Bel. VVhere theſe mad-men are, I neuer vvas amongſt them, as you loue me Gentlemen, lets ſee vvhat Greekes are vvithin. / […] / Bell. Pray beſtovv your name ſir vpon vs. / Full. My name is Full-moone. / Bell. You vvell deſerue...c. 1601 (date written), Thomas Decker [i.e., Thomas Dekker]; Iohn Webster [i.e., John Webster], North-ward Hoe. […], London: […] G[eorge] Eld, published 1607, →OCLC, Act IV, signature F3, recto

Adjective

madcap (comparative more madcap, superlative most madcap)

  1. Capricious, impulsive, or reckless; also, bizarre, crazy, zany; or foolish, idiotic.
    • a madcap activity a madcap idea a madcap plan
    • The film featured a madcap car chase that went right through a crowded café.

madcap meaning in Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

madcap in Urdu

دیوانہ, مجنوں, پاگل

madcap in Malayalam

എടുത്തുചാട്ടക്കാരൻ

madcap in Kannada

ತಲೆತಿರುಕ

Examples of madcap in a sentence

  • [T]he madcap girl ran up to her mother, put her arms round her waiſt, kiſſed her, tried to make her dance, and ſaid: "Don't be ſilly, you kind little mamma, and cry about Frank turning Papiſt.1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “I Go Home, and Harp on the Old String”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume III, London...
  • My madcap plan was to catch that 0456, then hang about – probably for the 0624.2020 March 25, Steve Roberts, “Parly-vous?”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 68:

All 11 example sentences with madcap

Synonyms of madcap

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of madcap

Forms of madcap

Noun
pluralmadcaps
alternative formmad-cap
alternative formmad cap
Adjective
comparativemore madcap
superlativemost madcap

Origin of madcap

The noun is derived from mad + cap (“(informal) head”). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.

Words formed from madcap

Questions about madcap

What does madcap mean?
Madcap means a person who acts in a capricious, impulsive, or reckless manner.
What is madcap in Urdu?
Madcap in Urdu is دیوانہ, مجنوں, پاگل. See Madcap meaning in Urdu.
How do you use madcap in a sentence?
[T]he madcap girl ran up to her mother, put her arms round her waiſt, kiſſed her, tried to make her dance, and ſaid: "Don't be ſilly, you kind little mamma, and cry about Frank turning Papiſt.
What part of speech is madcap?
Madcap can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce madcap?
Madcap is pronounced /ˈmædkæp/ (UK).
What is the plural of madcap?
The plural of madcap is madcaps.

Words near madcap in the dictionary

  1. Madays
  2. madbrain
  3. madbrained
  4. madbrains
  5. Madbury
  6. madcap
  7. madcapperies
  8. madcappery
  9. madcaps
  10. Madchester
  11. madchild

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: madcap (page history and authors); madcap (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); madcap (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); madcap (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.

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

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