lunatic

lu·na·tic

adjective \ˈlü-nə-ˌtik\

Definition of LUNATIC

1

a : affected with lunacy : insane

b : designed for the care of insane persons <lunatic asylum>

2

: wildly foolish <a lunatic idea>

— lunatic noun

Examples of LUNATIC

1. He hatched a lunatic plot to overthrow the government.
2. another of his lunatic ideas

Origin of LUNATIC

Middle English lunatik, from Anglo-French or Late Latin; Anglo-French lunatic, from Late Latin lunaticus, from Latin luna; from the belief that lunacy fluctuated with the phases of the moon

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to LUNATIC

Synonyms

balmy, barmy [chiefly British], bats, batty, bedlam, bonkers, brainsick, bughouse [slang], certifiable, crackbrained, cracked, crackers, crackpot, cranky [dialect], crazed, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, demented, deranged, fruity [slang], gaga, haywire, kooky (also kookie), loco [slang], loony (also looney), loony tunes (or looney tunes), insane, mad, maniacal (also maniac), mental, meshuga (or meshugge also meshugah or meshuggah), moonstruck, non compos mentis, nuts, nutty, psycho, psychotic, scatty [chiefly British], screwy, unbalanced, unhinged, unsound, wacko (also whacko), wacky (also whacky), wud [chiefly Scottish]

Antonyms

balanced, compos mentis, sane, sound, uncrazy

Related Words

dotty, fey, loopy, off, potty [chiefly British], teched (or tetched), touched; aberrant, delirious, delusional, delusionary, disordered, disturbed, neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, paranoiac (also paranoic), paranoid (also paranoidal), schizoid, schizophrenic, sociopathic; eccentric, odd, oddball, pixilated (also pixillated), queer, strange; foolish, senseless, witless; irrational, unreasonable; amok (or amuck), ape, ballistic, bananas, berserk, nuclear; depressed; distracted, distraught, frantic, frenzied, haywire, hysterical (also hysteric), raving, wigged-out; fixated, monomaniac, monomaniacal, obsessed

Near Antonyms

clear, lucid, rational, reasonable; judicious, sensible, wise; healthy, normal, well-adjusted; unneurotic

Other Psychology Terms

fetish, hypochondria, intelligence, mania, narcissism, neurosis, pathological, psychosis, schadenfreude, subliminal

Rhymes with LUNATIC

bailiwick, biopic, Bolshevik, bone to pick, call in sick, candlestick, candlewick, cattle tick, cherry-pick, corner kick, Dominic, do the trick, double-quick, EBCDIC, fiddlestick, fingerpick, flutter kick, hemistich, heretic, Menshevik, meterstick, needlestick, onside kick, overtrick, point-and-click, politic, politick, polyptych, rhythm stick, scissors kick, shooting stick, singlestick, swagger stick, swizzle stick, taperstick, turn the trick, undertrick, walking stick, Watson-Crick