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

Together, O’Neill and Alicia navigate a rabbit hole of deranged folk singers, psychotic cops, boxing promoters, line dancing enthusiasts, and worst of all, podcasters, the truth blurs, bodies stack, and the nature of their search comes into question. —Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 3 Oct. 2025

This place belongs to the Carver, a deranged butcher who hunts anything foolish enough to enter. —Meredith G. White, AZCentral.com, 25 Sep. 2025

On the eve of the annual scouting combine that could determine his entire professional future, he's attacked by a deranged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma. —Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 17 Sep. 2025

But everything changes when a string of gruesome killings—which grow increasingly bizarre, with victims covered in rashes and found in deranged, violent states—involves his young daughter Hyo-jin (Kim Hwan-hee). —Travis Bean, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1743, in the meaning defined at sense 1