Synonyms of paranoid

paranoid

adjective

variants also paranoidal

as in worried

having extreme or unreasonable fear or suspicion

He was paranoid about break-ins and insisted on checking the locks himself every night.

Related Words

• worried
• cautious
• careful
• skeptical
• nervous
• anxious
• wary
• suspicious
• distrustful
• mistrustful
• doubting
• questioning
• curious
• disbelieving
• incredulous
• unbelieving
• negativistic
• show-me
• cynical
• uneasy
• critical
• leery
• suspecting
• watchful
• quizzical
• puzzled
• tense
• edgy
• guarded
• unsure
• experienced
• inquisitive
• hesitant
• gun-shy
• worldly
• nosy
• uncertain
• unconvinced
• sophisticated
• knowing
• worldly-wise
• snoopy
• undetermined
• undecided
• inquiring
• unsettled

Dissimilar Words

• sure
• certain
• positive
• confident
• careless
• unsuspecting
• heedless
• unsuspicious
• unwary

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of paranoid

These women can become depressed, isolated, paranoid — convinced their thinning hair is all other people see. — Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 25 Aug. 2026

Musgrove testified that around Christmastime and into January, her daughter had lost weight and become paranoid. — Melina Khan, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026

But Musgrove said Clancy lost a lot of weight during that time, struggled with her memory and became paranoid about illogical things. — Nicki Brown, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026

By prioritizing the female characters’ perspective, Bound becomes a stylish subversion of film noir conventions, allowing the women at the center to exploit the paranoid masculine posturing of the crime-movie world for personal gain. — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Aug. 2026