as in foolish
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
a crackpot scheme to get rich quick
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
everyone is tolerant of the town crackpot, a man who never hurt anyone
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of crackpot
Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 7 Nov. 2025
There’s also a subplot involving an elderly cancer patient, a pizza restaurant that doesn’t deliver outside of the city, and a crackpot scheme to move the city-limit sign down the highway so that Clara’s crush can get his grandpa’s favorite pie sent to their home.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for crackpot
Adjective
The hyperactive news cycle demands everyone create some kind of schema for figuring out what’s going on, and our era is typified with crackpot right-wing conspiracies that fill that void.
—Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Noun
So like Janet Mills, crackpot fellow traveler Jared Golden was getting muscled… from the left.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 7 Nov. 2025
There’s also a subplot involving an elderly cancer patient, a pizza restaurant that doesn’t deliver outside of the city, and a crackpot scheme to move the city-limit sign down the highway so that Clara’s crush can get his grandpa’s favorite pie sent to their home.
—Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for crackpot
Recent Examples of Synonyms for crackpot
Adjective
-
Evening rush-hour commuters — who thought winter was over — felt foolish after the city was socked with a record-breaking spring snowfall.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
1 Apr. 2026
-
The glamorous branding of premium cards can also lead some consumers to make foolish mistakes by running up high-interest credit card debt.—
Jeff John Roberts,
Fortune,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
In 2015, Robert Durst, a wealthy eccentric linked to two killings and his wife’s disappearance, was arrested by the FBI in New Orleans on a murder warrant a day before HBO aired the final episode of a serial documentary about his life.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Feb. 2026
-
On her trail are a Báthory relative who is vegetarian (Thomas Schubert), his psychotherapist (Lars Eidinger), two vampirologists, a police inspector and a gallery of eccentrics.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Of course, sometimes the situation is more serious than stupid.—
Isaac Stanley-Becker,
The Atlantic,
31 Mar. 2026
-
The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress.—
Lauren Green,
The Washington Examiner,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Bruccoleri described the character’s emotional arc in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.—
Hanna Wickes,
Charlotte Observer,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Then the studio structured trailers and marketing around an unspecified, unspeakable disclosure by Zendaya’s character that derails the wedding plans (and imperils the characters’ romantic union) to stoke maximum curiosity.—
Chris Lee,
Vulture,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The group never uses the word unless there is something silly going on.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026
-
For Grabinski, what unites all of these projects is the fine art of creating a world that is emotionally smart yet deeply silly, fun, and expressive.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
This wacko crew was one of the greatest things in the history of television.—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
14 Aug. 2025
-
His search takes him to a wacko cult in the desert run by a scamster, and that of course puts the sheriff in deadly danger.—
Sandra Dallas,
Denver Post,
6 July 2025
Adjective
-
This is not your $65,000-a-year job, someone who’s a janitor and is trying to talk in a school board meeting who really could lose his job for this opinion, which is insane.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Three years after Steven Yeun and Ali Wong captured the attention of viewers eager to see the culmination of their characters' insane road rage fight, the drama series is back, this time focusing on two couples with a new kind of beef.—
Madeleine Janz,
PEOPLE,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
After Kent’s resignation, Republican hawks denounced him as a kook and a traitor to the cause, without touching on the delicate question of why Trump appointed such a disreputable figure in the first place.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Even Kathy Hilton is like a ghost of her former self, with Jen Tilly taking the crown of doddering kook away from her.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
13 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Crackpot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crackpot. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
