as in foolish
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
such lunatic clowning during a solemn ceremony is completely inappropriate
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in fool
a person who lacks good sense or judgment
No, you can't ski off the roof, you lunatic!
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 lunatic
Charles McNultytheater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2023
The first personality is the lunatic, chaotic artist, with no limits.
—John Bleasdale, Variety, 8 Dec. 2022
Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Sep. 2025
Whether those people are sickened by grief and rage into a kind of temporary insanity, genuine lunatics, hustlers looking to milk a little more engagement or some combination of the three doesn’t really matter.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lunatic
Adjective
With his shock of spiky hair and adrenaline rushes, Smith turns a corporate villain into a lunatic new-wave frontman.
—Charles McNultytheater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2023
The first personality is the lunatic, chaotic artist, with no limits.
—John Bleasdale, Variety, 8 Dec. 2022
Noun
So that episode will make fun [of] billionaire life-extension body-hacking lunatics.
—Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Sep. 2025
Whether those people are sickened by grief and rage into a kind of temporary insanity, genuine lunatics, hustlers looking to milk a little more engagement or some combination of the three doesn’t really matter.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for lunatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lunatic
Adjective
-
Misiorowski had made Edman look foolish in their first matchup, getting the infielder to swing through a wicked curveball.—
Fabian Ardaya,
New York Times,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Orús and Lizaso believe that the AI arms race is foolish.—
Vivienne Walt,
Fortune,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Don’t let the success of KPop Demon Hunters at the box office fool you, Netflix is still Netflix.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Sabonis and Zach LaVine are fringe All-Stars most seasons, Keegan Murray is a solid wing starter who shoots and defends, DeRozan can still get midrange buckets and shot-fake fools into heaps of fouls, and Malik Monk is electric in a sixth-man role.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
But, God, to be able to play a Pablo Escobar who was just petty and wanted friends, there was something so stupid and so hilarious about that to me.—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Oct. 2025
-
Keaton continued to play oddballs with a peculiar way of talking, though none were trivial or stupid.—
Matt Zoller Seitz,
Vulture,
12 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Haunted Trail takes visitors outdoors through a path with dense fog and several haunting installations with zombies, a ghoul bus, a graveyard filled with ghosts, chainsaw maniacs and more.—
Ut Community Press,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
14 Oct. 2025
-
Terror struck in the UK on Yom Kippur, when a maniac attacked people outside a Manchester synagogue, killing at least two and critically injuring four more.—
Staff,
FOXNews.com,
2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Whether these experienced hands can keep up with their mad scientists is less clear.—
Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
14 Oct. 2025
-
David’s flagship product is an almost Frankensteinian creation, more mad scientist than culinary.—
Ashley Lutz,
Fortune,
13 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
But the tone swings between sour and sweet, grounded and silly, and the jokes run more broadly wacky than precise or original.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Oct. 2025
-
In my eyes, much of the charm of a craft brewer is a willingness to be a little silly.—
Bradley Hohulin,
IndyStar,
13 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
These days, there are tons of high-quality varieties to choose from—recycled down, synthetic fill, goose down, duck down—and settling on the right one for you is really a matter of personal need and preference.—
Alison Syrett Cleary,
Glamour,
14 Oct. 2025
-
The winter 2025 collection highlights regional fibers like Alaša camel yarn, Tibetan yak cashmere, Hanshan white goat cashmere and Songhua River goose down.—
Footwear News,
Footwear News,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
This would be an absurd show of force, and totally uncalled for during a government shutdown when members of the military cannot even get a paycheck.—
Washington Examiner Staff,
The Washington Examiner,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Knightley and Pearce coast and their characters never come alive and resort to doing silly things at this misfire’s absurd, regrettable finale.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lunatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lunatic. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share