LUNACY DEFINITIONS - 11 definitions found
lunacy n 1: obsolete terms for legal insanity [syn: lunacy, madness, insaneness] 2: foolish or senseless behavior [syn: folly, foolery, tomfoolery, craziness, lunacy, indulgence] lunacy 1541, "condition of being a lunatic," formed in Eng. from lunatic (q.v.). Originally in ref. to intermittent periods of insanity, such as were believed to be triggered by the moon's cycle. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) lunacy noun (plural -cies) Etymology: lunatic Date: 1541 1. a. insanity b. intermittent insanity once believed to be related to phases of the moon 2. wild foolishness ; extravagant folly 3. a foolish act Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary lunacy 1. If you describe someone's behaviour as lunacy, you mean that it seems very strange or foolish. ...the lunacy of the tax system... It remains lunacy to produce yet more coal to add to power stations' stockpiles. N-UNCOUNT [disapproval] 2. Lunacy is severe mental illness. (OLD-FASHIONED) N-UNCOUNT English Explanatory Dictionary lunacy ˈlu:nəsɪ n. (pl. -ies) 1 insanity (orig. of the intermittent kind attributed to changes of the moon); the state of being a lunatic. 2 Law such mental unsoundness as interferes with civil rights or transactions. 3 great folly or eccentricity; a foolish act. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Lunacy \Lu"na*cy\, n.; pl. Lunacies. [See Lunatic.] 1. Insanity or madness; properly, the kind of insanity which is broken by intervals of reason, -- formerly supposed to be influenced by the changes of the moon; any form of unsoundness of mind, except idiocy; mental derangement or alienation. --Brande. --Burrill. Your kindred shuns your house As beaten hence by your strange lunacy. --Shak. 2. A morbid suspension of good sense or judgment, as through fanaticism. --Dr. H. More. Syn: Derangement; craziness; mania. See Insanity. Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms lunacy n. Insanity, madness, mania, derangement, craziness, mental aberration, crack. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) lunacy ˈlu:nəsɪ n. 1 madness, insanity, dementia, craziness, derangement, psychosis, mania: Formerly, it was believed that lunacy fluctuated in accordance with the phases of the moon. 2 folly, foolishness, bad or poor judgement, illogicality, illogic, senselessness, ridiculousness, irrationality, foolhardiness, stupidity: It would be sheer lunacy to confess to something you did not do. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 97 Moby Thesaurus words for "lunacy": aberration, abnormality, absurdity, alienation, asininity, battiness, brain damage, brainlessness, brainsickness, buffoonery, clouded mind, clownishness, crackpottedness, crankiness, craziness, daffiness, daftness, dementedness, dementia, derangement, desipience, disorientation, distraction, eccentricity, fatuity, fatuousness, folie, folly, foolery, foolhardiness, foolheadedness, foolishness, frivolity, frivolousness, furor, giddiness, goofiness, idiocy, illogic, illogicality, imbecility, inanity, ineptitude, insaneness, insanity, irrationality, loss of mind, loss of reason, madness, mania, mental deficiency, mental derangement, mental disease, mental disorder, mental disturbance, mental illness, mental instability, mental sickness, mind overthrown, mindlessness, mindsickness, niaiserie, nugacity, nuttiness, oddness, pixilation, possession, preposterousness, psychopathy, psychosis, queerness, rabidness, reasonlessness, ridiculousness, sappiness, screwiness, senselessness, shattered mind, sick mind, sickness, silliness, strangeness, stupidity, thoughtlessness, triflingness, triviality, unbalance, unbalanced mind, unsaneness, unsound mind, unsoundness, unsoundness of mind, wackiness, weirdness, witlessness, zaniness, zanyism |
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