deranged

adjective

de·​ranged di-ˈrānjd 

1

often offensive : mentally unsound : insane sense 1b

—not used technically

2

sometimes offensive : wildly odd or eccentric

His life was crowded, rather than peacefully isolated, and certainly never of an Olympian detachment, even though he was capable of quite deranged gestures of show-offy extravagance—such as buying an enormous house, more suitable for a banker than a painter …

—Robert Hughes

Or you could take part in a deranged computer game where you had to cycle after a huge beach ball, scoop it up and throw it through a hoop, scoring points for each goal.

—Natasha Ellis

3

dated, now sometimes offensive : disturbed or disordered in function, structure, or condition

My leg was propped up on a library chair at the time, as it was too deranged to bend.

—Cynthia Gorney

But other work indicates that, in addition, the B lymphocytes of lupus patients are inherently deranged …

—Moncef Zouali

Synonyms of deranged

• psychotic
• insane
• mad
• maniacal
• crazy

Examples of deranged in a Sentence

a deranged prisoner who had been in that rat-infested hole for 20 years

Recent Examples on the Web

The 30th edition of the show — which celebrates excellence on the internet in all its deranged forms — is set to take place May 11 in New York City, with comedian and Daily Show correspondent Josh Johnson serving as host. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2026

The deranged Call of Duty–style montages that the official White House X page puts out are part and parcel of appealing to a younger generation. —Suzanne Schneider, The New York Review of Books, 25 Mar. 2026

Yet in our deranged modern world of microbets and prediction markets, even volatility itself can become a financial vehicle. —Joe Wilkins Published Mar 18, Futurism, 18 Mar. 2026

The searching itself — from the healthy to the deranged — is the warning sign. —Ariel David, Baltimore Sun, 16 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1743, in the meaning defined at sense 1