bughouse

1 of 2

adjective

bug·​house ˈbəg-ˌhau̇s 

informal + offensive

: mentally unsound

bughouse

2 of 2

noun

plural bughouses

informal + disparaging

: an institution providing care to mentally unsound individuals

Synonyms

Adjective

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

Examples of bughouse in a Sentence

Adjective

anyone would go bughouse after being stuck on an airplane for 7 hours

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Radicalized nutballs are just starting to bubble to the surface of the national consciousness—like this tantrum-throwing buffoon, Landon Copeland, who took the hearing for his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol as an opportunity to turn a court of law into a MAGA bughouse. —Bryan Box, The New Republic, 10 Sep. 2021

At the end of Fletcher Knebel's novels, the bughouse president resigns and the coup is foiled. —Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 14 Apr. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1894, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1899, in the meaning defined above