madness
Americannoun
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the state of being mad; insanity.
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senseless folly.
It is sheer madness to speak as you do.
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frenzy; rage.
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intense excitement or enthusiasm.
noun
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insanity; lunacy
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extreme anger, excitement, or foolishness
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a nontechnical word for rabies
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of madness
First recorded in 1350–1400, madness is from the Middle English word madnesse. See mad, -ness
Explanation
Madness is foolish, impulsive behavior. It would be madness to ride on the back of your friend's car, standing on the bumper. A screaming crowd waiting to see their favorite rock star creates an atmosphere of madness — and their enthusiasm itself can be described as madness. You could also say that donating all your money to an animal shelter would be madness, or describe the madness of a busy Thanksgiving Day sale. Madness sometimes takes on its original meaning, "mental instability" or "insanity."
Vocabulary lists containing madness
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hill met Neil Gordon through his wife, Melissa, a photographer who had spent a few weeks in Walterboro chronicling the trial and the madness that swirled around it.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
And it means that Stephen Colbert, one of the nation’s best vehicles for satirical critique, will no longer be on the air to make sense of the madness of the moment.
From Salon • May 19, 2026
Both agree there is a certain madness in a system that appears to encourage people to swim in a polluted river in the hope it will create the pressure to clean it up.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
Between bucket pull madness, a ton of Golden Ticket winners dazzled throughout, treating L.A. to a little slice of what we see in Austin on Mondays.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
That’s when Steve Eisman finally understood the madness of the machine.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
