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
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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
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Even in a down year in which playing a rookie would have been more beneficial, Jones didn’t play much for the Pacers.
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Stock prices, meanwhile, ticked higher Wednesday after a down day Tuesday.
Adjective
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Initially skeptical, Tom becomes increasingly paranoid after a sailor who got lost in the fog essentially goes mad, with his eyes turning white just before dying.
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Relative bargain Please do not be mad at me for relaying this insurance math.
Adverb
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Hydroplaning is the term for when a vehicle begins sliding uncontrollably on wet roads.
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Hydroplaning happens when a vehicle starts sliding uncontrollably on wet roads.
Adjective
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The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has opened an investigation into the owner of a malfunctioning chemical storage tank in Garden Grove that has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents as fire crews race to avoid an explosion.
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Despite the accomplishments, Artemis II astronauts had to contend with a more mundane problem -- a malfunctioning space toilet.
Adjective
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The drugs brought on psychotic episodes that were destructive, and when his son was about 20, the family made the difficult decision to ask Sean to leave the house.
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In the second episode, Tom spends a night in the local inn, and ends up in a crawl space with the ghost of a psychotic killer clown.
Adverb
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And when Andreeva hits one of her crazily creative shots and turns to Martínez for praise, she is met with a smile, and maybe some clapping.
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The scene used one of the film’s funniest visual gags, an apartment so crazily tilted that nobody inside it could stand up straight.
Adjective
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Canada’s first-ever World Cup win was overshadowed yesterday when midfielder Ismaël Koné suffered a broken leg after a tackle that left teammates shaken and coach Jesse Marsch lamenting an injury that turned a night of celebration into one of anguish.
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But the win was a costly one since Canada, which entered the tournament missing three starters to injury, lost another early in the second half when midfielder Ismael Kone was carted off on a stretcher with an apparent broken leg after Qatar’s Assim Madibo clipped him from behind.
Adjective
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The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 8 laptop shows up ready to work with a snappy Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, insane 32GB of RAM, and spacious 2TB SSD in its (figurative) briefcase.
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Eventually, though, Lestat breaks, coming clean about his tumultuous past with first lover Nicolas de Lenfent (Joseph Potter), who went insane after being attacked by Armand (Assad Zaman) in Paris in the late 18th century.
Cite this Entry
“Haywire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/haywire. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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