as in reckless
foolishly adventurous or bold
a madcap scheme to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel
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Recent Examples of madcap
Jon Schuppe, NBC news, 23 Sep. 2025
The Greek auteur has worked with better scripts in the past, but in terms of its commanding performances, design, sharply precise cinematography, gleefully cruel humor, and bizarro ending, this madcap thriller can’t help but hit the spot for existing devotees.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 5 Sep. 2025
That is just one of the absurdist strands in the latest film from Anders Thomas Jensen, known for dark comedies including the revenge story Riders of Justice (2020) and the more madcap Men & Chicken (2015).
—Caryn James, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
Mom’s hoarding and Dad’s madcap inventions?
—Amanda Uhle
august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for madcap
Adjective
The 57-month prison term, plus three years of probation, imposed by a federal judge in Memphis marked the final notes of a madcap plot born two years ago in a small city in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains.
—Jon Schuppe, NBC news, 23 Sep. 2025
The Greek auteur has worked with better scripts in the past, but in terms of its commanding performances, design, sharply precise cinematography, gleefully cruel humor, and bizarro ending, this madcap thriller can’t help but hit the spot for existing devotees.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 5 Sep. 2025
That is just one of the absurdist strands in the latest film from Anders Thomas Jensen, known for dark comedies including the revenge story Riders of Justice (2020) and the more madcap Men & Chicken (2015).
—Caryn James, HollywoodReporter, 30 Aug. 2025
Mom’s hoarding and Dad’s madcap inventions?
—Amanda Uhle
august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for madcap
Recent Examples of Synonyms for madcap
Adjective
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Critics lambasted those policies as impractical at best, reckless at worst.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
5 Nov. 2025
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These reckless policies have deadly consequences.—
Dan Gooding,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Its depictions of dancing devils and witches’ sabbaths are supposed to scare viewers straight, but writer-director Benjamin Christensen is also sympathetic towards the plight of medieval women persecuted for witchcraft.—
Katie Rife,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Oct. 2025
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The anime series follows a young man who can demolish fellow devils via a pullstring in his chest that transforms parts of his body into chainsaws.—
Jack Smart,
PEOPLE,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Nixon has built a reputation on social media for being a daredevil pilot with clips on his Instagram often showing him performing stunts in helicopters, including low-level sprints, sharp turns and risky maneuvers while in the air, PEOPLE previously reported.—
Madison E. Goldberg,
PEOPLE,
21 Oct. 2025
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The first season followed 17-year-old Ethan (Cantona James) seeking a way out of the Southside’s bloody cycle of gang violence through spinning, a South African extreme motorsport that features drivers performing daredevil stunts.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
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McGuane’s cowboys lose fights—for women, for their ranches, for their dreams—and tend to know when they’ve been beaten.—
Tyler Austin Harper,
The Atlantic,
30 Oct. 2025
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The Call Me By Your Name actor plays an outlaw among a group of travelers in the Old West who team up with a cowboy named Merrick Beckford (Myles Clohessy) on a dangerous journey.—
Tommy McArdle,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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But in Podnieks’ own country, he was celebrated and respected as a rare source of truth telling and courageous reporting on a world that was changing fast.—
Will Tizard,
Variety,
2 Nov. 2025
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What People Are Saying Thanks to the courageous survivors of Epstein's abuse, justice is coming to Andrew.—
Robert Alexander,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
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After all, all 12 signs have a shadow sign, so what better way to call them out than with a slasher, a demon or a dream-stalking madman?—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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Its abstraction feels less evasive than connective, demanding engagement with the core fear rather than the distraction of specifics; the threat can no longer be imagined as some specific other — some other government, some other madman.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Her adventurous spirit never dimmed.—
Stephanie Giang-Paunon,
FOXNews.com,
25 Oct. 2025
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Miguel kick-started his career with his adventurous 2012 debut, Kaleidoscope Dream, an LP that mixed rock, soul, and psychedelia into a freewheeling sound he’s been nuancing ever since, often in music that’s taken on a moodier, more anxious tone.—
Jon Dolan,
Rolling Stone,
24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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For me, it’s been really essential to read a lot of great information, and to come at the world filled with knowledge and all these ideas of, in my view, much smarter and braver people than myself.—
Fiction Non Fiction,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
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For those brave scientists who study snakes–aka herpetologists–the mechanics behind the reptiles’ fast fangs are more fascinating than fear-inducing.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
23 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Madcap.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/madcap. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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