unhinged

adjective

un·​hinged ˌən-ˈhinjd 

: highly disturbed, unstable, or distraught

attacked by an unhinged extremist

Somewhere along the way, her pursuit of a hot guy turned into unhinged obsession.

—Cosmopolitan

"Is this a new brand of humour? Or is your brain really unhinged?" inquired Tommy.

—Agatha Christie

see also unhinge

Synonyms of unhinged

• psychotic
• insane
• mad
• maniacal
• crazy
• mental

Examples of unhinged in a Sentence

destined to become one of the nation's most notorious serial killers, he apparently became unhinged as a result of being abandoned as a young teen

Recent Examples on the Web

Jesse Plemons leans into unhinged intensity, while Emma Stone counters with calculated control. —Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 5 Jan. 2026

This holiday season, Amanda Seyfried is double the force to be reckon with as an unhinged wealthy housewife in Lionsgate’s box office success The Housemaid and in Mona Fastvold‘s period epic The Testament of Ann Lee about the iconoclastic, provocative founder of the Shaker movement. —Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 29 Dec. 2025

The left's unhinged hatred for conservatives has completely broken them. —Hope Karnopp, jsonline.com, 29 Dec. 2025

Read on for a cosmically unhinged version of 12 Days of Christmas. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 25 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unhinged

• cringed
• fringed
• hinged
• singed
• impinged
• infringed