derangement

noun

1
as in dementia
a serious mental disorder that prevents one from living a safe and normal life given powerful drugs to treat his derangement

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disruption
an act or instance of the order of things being disturbed the derangement of the carefully organized event by a single freak accident

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 derangement There is no national mood, just a mélange of anomie, distaste, and derangement. — Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 5 July 2026 Call this his civil-rights derangement syndrome. — Howard L. Simon, The Orlando Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2026 Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome. — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 30 Dec. 2025 Now, after having been canceled and reborn, the show has lost its signature sense of derangement, and there’s something a little sad about that. — Nate Jones, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026 President doubled down on criticism What is 'Trump derangement syndrome' about? — Kinsey Crowley, USA Today, 16 Dec. 2025 Age and bitterness appear to have compounded the narcissism and egomania to produce derangement. — Bradley Gitz, Arkansas Online, 2 Feb. 2026 Occasionally, the threat of violence, often expressed through all-caps derangement. — Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 12 June 2026 The great derangement The Indian government has ignored numerous pleas to reconsider and abandon the project and instead moved to change the facts on the ground. — M. Rajshekhar, Time, 11 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derangement
  1. dementia
  2. disruption
  3. insanity
  4. disturbance
  5. hysteria
  6. madness
  7. schizophrenia
  8. instability
Noun
  • At the same time, dementia is a complex condition with many contributing factors, including genetics, presence of vascular disease, hearing loss and lifestyle habits like smoking and heavy alcohol use.
    — Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 6 July 2026
  • This is a free, online tool developed by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital to calculate your risks and take steps, through changes to daily habits, that can help decrease the risk of stroke, dementia, heart disease and cancer.
    — Allison Aubrey, NPR, 6 July 2026
Definition of dementia
Noun
  • While no one wants a bad night's sleep, most of us experience occasional sleep disruptions stemming from familiar culprits like late-night doomscrolling, too much caffeine, stress or an inconsistent bedtime routine.
    — Daryl Austin, USA Today, 8 July 2026
  • And as more employers trim down their workforces in the name of AI efficiencies, entry-level roles are more vulnerable to disruption.
    — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 7 July 2026
Definition of disruption
Noun
  • Iraq, Canada, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Qatar, Saudi Arabia After accidentally cursing President Saddam Hussein on stage, theater actor Salem convinces a military court of his insanity to escape a death sentence.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 6 July 2026
  • San Francisco trailed 6-1 at the time of Webb’s departure, and given Coors Field’s penchant for insanity, a comeback wasn’t out of the question.
    — Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 4 July 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • Even tiny electromagnetic disturbances can disrupt the quantum states that perform calculations, reducing the accuracy and reliability of the system.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 3 July 2026
  • However, about 15 minutes into the flight, a pilot reported a passenger disturbance to air traffic control.
    — Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 2 July 2026
Definition of disturbance
Noun
  • And the hysteria over the centers seemed to be not as much about freedom, or competing educational philosophies, or politics at all, as about an ever-shrinking pot of money.
    — Ann Manov, Harpers Magazine, 30 June 2026
  • From causing supernatural events to creating hysteria, our orbiting nightlight has always had legends and folktales written about it.
    — Taylor Grothe, Parents, 28 June 2026
Definition of hysteria
Noun
  • In the midst of the final stretch of World Cup madness, here are eight shows happening in Kansas City in July.
    — Rashad Alexander, Kansas City Star, 1 July 2026
  • Either Cody or Gunther wins because Sami gets screwed; Zayn will then further descend into madness and attack someone after the bell.
    — Darren Cooper, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026
Definition of madness
Noun
  • But their loving, attentive mother soon began displaying signs of schizophrenia.
    — Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 3 July 2026
  • After Nijinsky began to show signs of schizophrenia, this mask, or persona, grew disturbed.
    — Cal Revely-Calder, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
Definition of schizophrenia
Noun
  • Legal trouble can bring family stress, public shame, and extended instability in the same room.
    — Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 7 July 2026
  • Native architectures shrink the surface area for gaps, latency and instability.
    — Brian Stimpfl, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of instability

Browse Nearby Words

deranged
derangement
derangements
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Derangement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/derangement. Accessed 9 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on derangement

Nglish: Translation of derangement for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of tacit

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All