mad — OET · Shobdo

mad

adjective

1 mainly British he felt he was going mad:

insane, mentally ill, certifiable, deranged, demented, of unsound mind, out of one's mind, not in one's right mind, sick in the head, not together, crazy, crazed, lunatic, non compos mentis, unbalanced, unhinged, unstable, disturbed, distracted, stark mad, manic, frenzied, raving, distraught, frantic, hysterical, delirious, psychotic, psychopathic, mad as a hatter, mad as a March hare, foaming at the mouth;

British sectionable;

Midlands English yampy;

informal mental, off one's head, out of one's head, off one's nut, nuts, nutty, nutty as a fruitcake, off one's rocker, not (quite) right in the head, round the bend, stark staring/raving mad, raving mad, bats, bonkers, cuckoo, cracked, loopy, loony, bananas, loco, dippy, screwy, schizoid, touched, gaga, up the pole, off the wall, not all there, not right upstairs;

British, informal barmy, crackers, barking, barking mad, dotty, batty, round the twist, off one's trolley, as daft as a brush, not the full shilling, away with the fairies;

North American, informal buggy, nutsy, nutso;

out of one's tree, meshuga, squirrelly, wacko;

Canadian, & Australian, New Zealand, informal bushed;

Australian, informal yarra;

New Zealand, informal porangi;

(be mad) informal have a screw loose, have bats in the/one's belfry;

Australian, informal have kangaroos in the/one's top paddock.

▷antonyms sane.

2 informal I'm still mad at him for what he did:

angry, furious, infuriated, irate, raging, enraged, fuming, blazing, flaming mad, blazing mad, in a towering rage, incensed, wrathful, seeing red, cross, indignant, exasperated, irritated, berserk, out of control, beside oneself;

informal livid, spare, wild, aerated;

informal , dated waxy, in a wax;

North American, informal sore.

▷antonyms calm, unruffled.

3 mainly British what sort of mad scheme are you working on?:

foolish, insane, stupid, lunatic, foolhardy, idiotic, irrational, unreasonable, illogical, zany, senseless, nonsensical, absurd, impractical, silly, inane, asinine, ludicrous, wild, unwise, imprudent, preposterous;

informal crazy, crackpot, crackbrained;

British, informal daft.

▷antonyms sensible.

4 informal he's mad about jazz:

enthusiastic, passionate, impassioned, keen on;

ardent, zealous, fervent, avid, eager, fervid, fanatical, addicted to, devoted to, infatuated with, in love with, hot for;

informal crazy, nuts, wild, hooked on, gone on;

British, informal potty, dotty;

North American, informal nutso.

▷antonyms indifferent.

5 we made mad, passionate love:

unrestrained, uncontrolled, uninhibited, wild, abandoned, overpowering, overwhelming, excited, frenzied, frantic, frenetic, ebullient, energetic, boisterous.

□ go mad

1 mainly British he subsequently went mad and threw himself in front of a train:

become insane, lose one's reason, lose one's mind, take leave of one's senses, go off one's head, go crazy;

informal lose one's marbles;

British, informal go barmy, go off one's trolley, go round the twist, go crackers, go doolally (tap).

2 informal when I told her I was going to be an actor, my mother went mad:

become very angry, lose one's temper, get in a rage, rant, rant and rave, fulminate;

go crazy;

informal explode, burst, go off the deep end, go ape, flip, flip one's lid;

British, informal do one's nut;

North American, informal flip one's wig;

vulgar slang go apeshit.

3 the crowd went mad with excitement:

become frenzied, become uncontrollable, lose control, erupt, boil over.

□ like madinformal

1 the two men turned towards me, and I ran like mad:

fast, furiously, as fast as possible, as fast as one's legs can carry one, hurriedly, quickly, rapidly, speedily, hastily.

2 he had to fight like mad to get away:

energetically, enthusiastically, madly, with a will, for all one is worth, passionately, intensely, ardently, fervently;

informal like crazy, hammer and tongs;

British, informal , dated like billy-o.

mad Oxford Dictionary of English