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

After two days in which the baseball was not Coors Field’s usual kind of crazy, Thursday’s getaway day got a Rocky Mountain kind of unhinged. —Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Apr. 2026

Increasingly unhinged storylines helped too, including the most shocking wig reveal in TV history. —Andrea Lavinthal, PEOPLE, 22 Apr. 2026

Over time, and as Kimmel has increasingly become unhinged and extreme, it's turned into something completely different. —Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 21 Apr. 2026

Indeed, a misguided sense of celebration marked the occasion for a subset of unhinged progressives, some of whom hold positions of trust (teachers, administrators, politicians) in our country. —Bob Ehrlich, Baltimore Sun, 21 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unhinged

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