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

• psychotic [sometimes offensive]
• insane
• mad
• maniacal
• maniac
• crazy [usually offensive]
• demented

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

After the creatures show up, we’re left running (stark naked) through the labyrinthine walls of Hell, as main protagonist Aiden, before being accosted by a deranged cult back in the real world. —Joshua Lamb, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025

One of his eyes had gone milky, deranged. —Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025

And stuff each song with lyrics about '20s-generation malaise and deranged loners? —Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 14 Aug. 2025

That can’t be where King and his deranged writers’ room wanted to leave us, with Mia, Brady, Miranda, and Steve’s future together (or apart) very much up in the air. —Ben Travers, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1743, in the meaning defined at sense 1