Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Insane
1.
Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; mad; deranged in mind; delirious; distracted. See
Insanity
, 2. 2.
Used by, or appropriated to, insane persons;
as, an
. insane
hospital3.
Causing insanity or madness.
[R.]
Or have we eaten on the
That takes the reason prisoner ?
insane
rootThat takes the reason prisoner ?
Shakespeare
4.
Characterized by insanity or the utmost folly; chimerical; unpractical;
as, an
insane
plan, attempt, etc.I know not which was the
insane
measure. Southey.
Webster 1828 Edition
Insane
INSA'NE
,Adj.
1.
Unsound in mind or intellect; mad; deranged in mind; delirious; distracted. [In this sense of making mad, it is little used.]2.
Used by or appropriated to insane persons; as an insane hospital.INSA'NE
,Noun.
Definition 2024
insane
insane
English
Adjective
insane (comparative more insane or insaner, superlative most insane or insanest)
- Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; mad; deranged in mind; delirious; distracted.
- 1936, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 41:
- 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 lesions, alcohol, toxins,
and injuries. But the other half—and this is the appalling
part of the story—the other half of the people who go in-
sane apparently have nothing organically wrong with
their brain cells. In post-mortem examinations, when their
brain tissues are studied under the highest-powered micro-
scopes, they are found to be apparently just as healthy as
yours and mine.
Why do these people go insane?
- What is the cause of insanity?
-
- Used by, or appropriated to, insane persons; as, an insane hospital.
- Causing insanity or madness.
- Characterized by insanity or the utmost folly; chimerical; unpractical; as, an insane plan, attempt, etc.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. 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.
-
Synonyms
- See also Wikisaurus:insane
Antonyms
Translations
exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind
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used by, or appropriated to, insane persons
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causing insanity or madness
|
characterized by insanity or the utmost folly
Related terms
Anagrams
Latin
Adjective
īnsāne
- vocative masculine singular of īnsānus
References
- insane in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- insane in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “insane”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.