1
as in dementia
a serious mental disorder that prevents one from living a safe and normal life
his incurable insanity requires that he spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in absurdity
a foolish act or idea
everyone laughed at the latest insanity from the town eccentric
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in madness
lack of good sense or judgment
had the insanity to think that taking over a government building in protest of our foreign policy was a good idea
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of insanity
At trial, Crawford's attorneys acknowledged his guilt to lay the groundwork for an insanity defense, even though that's not how Crawford wanted to handle the case, according to reporting by the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network.
—
Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025
Instead of gradually boiling into insanity, the film hits fever pitch hallucinations right away and quickly exhausts itself attempting to keep pace.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
Working with Chhaya clients who were facing foreclosure, Mamdani got an intimate look at the little insanities of the city’s housing crisis.
—Eric Lach, New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2025
Exantus was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity but was sentenced for assault in the 2015 case involving 6-year-old Logan Tipton.
—Leo Bertucci, Louisville Courier Journal, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for insanity
Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025
Instead of gradually boiling into insanity, the film hits fever pitch hallucinations right away and quickly exhausts itself attempting to keep pace.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
Working with Chhaya clients who were facing foreclosure, Mamdani got an intimate look at the little insanities of the city’s housing crisis.
—Eric Lach, New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2025
Exantus was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity but was sentenced for assault in the 2015 case involving 6-year-old Logan Tipton.
—Leo Bertucci, Louisville Courier Journal, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for insanity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insanity
Noun
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Future studies will look at whether stabilizing blood pressure—through adjusting medication timing, regular exercise or stress management—could slow brain aging and reduce dementia risk.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
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In Memory, Chastain played a social worker and single mother whose structured life is thrown into chaos when a young man dealing with dementia, played by Peter Sarsgaard, follows her home from their high school reunion.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Alps is really about the absurdity of acting in general, and perhaps the specific psychological burden of the Method in particular.—
A.A. Dowd,
Vulture,
24 Oct. 2025
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The costumes point out the absurdity of bringing National Guard troops into cities, Faith Gill said.—
Darcie Moran,
Freep.com,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Yet, the severity of gendered crime during Partition wasn’t caused by an arbitrary upsurge of madness.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Oct. 2025
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But the true star of Robert Wiene’s silent classic is the German Expressionist set design, whose jarring angles and dramatic shadows enhance its tale of murder and madness.—
Katie Rife,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Decades before Salem, hysteria over witchcraft was already sweeping through England – and perhaps nowhere more fervently than in the southeast, such as in the neighboring counties of Kent and Essex, which border London.—
James Frater,
CNN Money,
31 Oct. 2025
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Critics will predictably argue that those two positions are inherently linked; on the opposite side of the political spectrum, oil and gas partisans could point to Gates’ essay as proof that climate hysteria was misguided all along and that fossil use should continue unimpeded.—
Tim McDonnell,
semafor.com,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Why should Curtis have to back down to **maybe** save that city from its own stupidity?—
Gabe Whisnant,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Nov. 2025
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The Snack Homiez’ back-and-forth, soothing in its stupidity, reminded me of this Kate McKinnon-Aidy Bryant two-hander from 2021.—
Charu Sinha,
Vulture,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The absurdity of the image—and the simplicity of the complaint—also sparked a flood of lighthearted responses.—
Melissa Fleur Afshar,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
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McMillan chose to focus on pets, building his method around simplicity.—
Jane Stern,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The company's future hinges on the success of Cobenfy, the company's new schizophrenia drug.—
Zev Fima,
CNBC,
30 Oct. 2025
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Boy Brian Wilson’s attempts to complete the album Smile in the aftermath of a nervous breakdown while dealing with schizophrenia.—
Richard Newby,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Advertisement Aster keenly satirizes Joe’s idiocy in the face of social upheaval through the iconography of Westerns.—
Robert Daniels,
Time,
10 Oct. 2025
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But my naivete and idiocy about what this was going to take was staggering to me just six months later.—
Scott Feinberg,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Insanity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insanity. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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