insanity

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noun

Definition of INSANITY

1

a serious mental disorder that prevents one from living a safe and normal life <his incurable insanity requires that he spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital>

Synonyms aberration, dementia, derangement, lunacy, madness, mania, rage [archaic]

Related Words neurosis, psychosis; instability, irrationality, unreasonableness; delirium, frenzy, hysteria; hallucinosis, hypomania, paranoia, schizophrenia; senile dementia; delusion, hallucination; monomania, obsession, phobia; abnormality, dementedness, unsoundness

Near Antonyms lucidity, rationality, rationalness, reasonability, reasonableness; normality, soundness

Antonyms mind, saneness, sanity

2

a foolish act or idea <everyone laughed at the latest insanity from the town eccentric>

Synonyms absurdity, asininity, bêtise, fatuity, foolery, foppery, idiocy, imbecility, inanity, insanity, lunacy, stupidity

Related Words absurdness, craziness, foolishness, inaneness, madness, senselessness, witlessness; buffoonery, monkeyshine(s), shenanigan(s), tomfoolery; drivel, humbug, nonsense, twaddle; blunder, bungle, flub, goof, howler

Near Antonyms discretion, forethought, prudence, sagacity, wisdom; brainstorm, inspiration

3

lack of good sense or judgment <had the insanity to think that taking over a government building in protest of our foreign policy was a good idea>

Synonyms absurdity, asininity, balminess, brainlessness, craziness, daftness, dippiness, dottiness, fatuity, fatuousness, folly, imbecility, inanity, insanity, lunacy, madness, nonsensicalness, nuttiness, preposterousness, senselessness, silliness, simplicity, unwisdom, wackiness, witlessness, zaniness

Related Words denseness, dim-wittedness, doltishness, dopiness, dullness (also dulness), dumbness, feeblemindedness, gormlessness [chiefly British], idiocy, mindlessness, oafishness, obtuseness, simplemindedness, simpleness, slowness, stupidity, stupidness, vacuity; fallacy, irrationality, unreasonableness; kookiness, weirdness; laughableness, ludicrousness, ridiculousness

Near Antonyms logicality, logicalness, rationality, rationalness, reasonability, reasonableness, validity; discernment, insight, perception, percipience

Antonyms prudence, sagaciousness, sagacity, sageness, sanity, sapience, sensibleness, soundness, wisdom