1
as in down
not being in working order
The website went haywire when it was overloaded with visitors seeking tickets.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in mad
unable to think in a clear or sensible way
She gradually went haywire with grief after the tragic death of her husband.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in uncontrollably
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of haywire
Billy Perrigo, Time, 28 Oct. 2025
The Baltimore Orioles' season went haywire fast after a disappointing offseason that saw ace Corbin Burnes walk, and with no real replacement added to their pitching staff.
—Hunter Mulholland, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for haywire
Adverb
Robot meltdown — The LLMs also sometimes went haywire in unexpected ways.
—Billy Perrigo, Time, 28 Oct. 2025
The Baltimore Orioles' season went haywire fast after a disappointing offseason that saw ace Corbin Burnes walk, and with no real replacement added to their pitching staff.
—Hunter Mulholland, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for haywire
Recent Examples of Synonyms for haywire
Adjective
-
If supply is down and demand is the same, that leaves prices nowhere to go but up.—
Matt Egan,
CNN Money,
12 May 2026
-
On the down side, there’s not a lot of history here.—
John Romano,
The Orlando Sentinel,
11 May 2026
Adjective
-
There, a mad, out-of-control Mary lives on as tenaciously as George Washington’s inability to tell a lie.—
Thomas Mallon,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
-
At this maddest of sporting institutions, that is perhaps the craziest hope of all.—
Tom Williams,
New York Times,
17 May 2026
Adverb
-
Hydroplaning is when a vehicle starts uncontrollably sliding on wet roads.—
KANSAS CITY STAR WEATHER BOT,
Kansas City Star,
19 May 2026
-
Hydroplaning happens when a vehicle starts sliding uncontrollably on wet roads.—
STAR-TELEGRAM WEATHER BOT,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
19 May 2026
Adjective
-
Despite the accomplishments, Artemis II astronauts had to contend with a more mundane problem -- a malfunctioning space toilet.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
12 Apr. 2026
-
Despite the accomplishments, Artemis II astronauts had to contend with a more mundane problem — a malfunctioning space toilet.—
Marcia Dunn,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Thank god because the Special pitch was, said with love to my younger self, psychotic.—
Ryan O'Connell,
HollywoodReporter,
4 May 2026
-
Leaving people with serious, untreated psychotic illnesses to publicly deteriorate isn’t compassion in the slightest.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Adverb
-
Thanks to a crazily unlikely accident, the researchers had witnessed a sperm-whale birth and had managed to videotape the entire event.—
Elizabeth Kolbert,
New Yorker,
26 Mar. 2026
-
And still, crazily enough, there are occasional firsts.—
Dan Woike,
New York Times,
3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Daniel, who spent years in the plush comfort of Silicon Valley tech roles — unlimited PTO, big teams, no broken dryers — is logging something closer to 60 hours a week now, bouncing between laptop, factory floor, and a dairy farm eight miles up the road.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
15 May 2026
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The court was told that Paul and her 10-month-old son were in one of the seven cars involved in the collision, resulting in the baby sustaining a broken leg, per Toronto Sun and CBC.—
Gabrielle Rockson,
PEOPLE,
15 May 2026
Adjective
-
In any other historical period, proposing such a career trajectory would’ve seemed mildly insane — like if Peter Buck had followed up Fables of the Reconstruction by producing Whitney Houston instead of the Feelies.—
Jon Dolan,
Rolling Stone,
14 May 2026
-
For so much of the season, Rachel is low-key stoned, which can keep her at a remove, even when things are getting really insane.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Haywire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/haywire. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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