variants
or nut case
plural nutcases or nut cases
: a foolish or eccentric person
My mother had been making fun of Grandpa for years, calling him a nut case and his stories exaggerations, if not outright lies.—
Don Wallace
Don Wallace
also, sometimes offensive
: someone who is not mentally sound
Synonyms
Examples of nutcase in a Sentence
some nutcase was arrested for running out onto the baseball field while the game was in progress
around the condo complex she's known as the nutcase who consistently ignores the rules
Recent Examples on the Web
Although My Donkey, My Lover & I (Antoinette dans les Cévennes) was made in 2020, before Libs of TikTok exposed school-teacher lunacy, writer-director Caroline Vignal proves prescient about the eccentricity that goes deeper than the profession’s nutcase radicalism.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 July 2022
Ma Seok-do (Ma) is still with the Geumcheon Police Major Crimes Unit, arriving to help his fellow officers deal with a knife-wielding nutcase who’s taken hostages at a corner store.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 June 2022
From there, the premiere follows Mildred’s first day at the hospital and establishes that everyone is some kind of nutcase, and there’s a visit from the governor of California (Vincent D’Onofrio) because his entire re-election campaign somehow rests on an underfunded mental hospital.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 14 Sep. 2020
None of this is to deny the Republican lurch to the extreme right and the wild popularity of conspiracy theories and nutcase politics.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 24 May 2022
That is enough to prompt scheduling a video chat with a purported demonologist (Laura Heisler) who does not seem a nutcase or charlatan.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 10 Aug. 2022
Video testimony provided other repudiations of Eastman’s nutcase legal theory.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 17 June 2022
The Trump factor alone suggests that the odds are high Republicans will nominate some nutcase candidates in winnable races who make Marjorie Taylor Greene seem like a moderate.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 1 Mar. 2022
That’s the date when nutcase Congressman Paul Gosar posted that hideous tweet about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
—Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 15 Nov. 2021
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Armond White, National Review, 27 July 2022
Ma Seok-do (Ma) is still with the Geumcheon Police Major Crimes Unit, arriving to help his fellow officers deal with a knife-wielding nutcase who’s taken hostages at a corner store.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 June 2022
From there, the premiere follows Mildred’s first day at the hospital and establishes that everyone is some kind of nutcase, and there’s a visit from the governor of California (Vincent D’Onofrio) because his entire re-election campaign somehow rests on an underfunded mental hospital.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 14 Sep. 2020
None of this is to deny the Republican lurch to the extreme right and the wild popularity of conspiracy theories and nutcase politics.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 24 May 2022
That is enough to prompt scheduling a video chat with a purported demonologist (Laura Heisler) who does not seem a nutcase or charlatan.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 10 Aug. 2022
Video testimony provided other repudiations of Eastman’s nutcase legal theory.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 17 June 2022
The Trump factor alone suggests that the odds are high Republicans will nominate some nutcase candidates in winnable races who make Marjorie Taylor Greene seem like a moderate.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 1 Mar. 2022
That’s the date when nutcase Congressman Paul Gosar posted that hideous tweet about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
—Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 15 Nov. 2021
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nutcase.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1955, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near nutcase
Cite this Entry
“Nutcase.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nutcase. Accessed 3 Oct. 2023.
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