VIDEO FOR MAD
WATCH NOW: How Does The Word "Mad" Have So Many Meanings?
The word "mad" really drives me mad. I mean, just think about it. I’m so mad at you, I could say. But what if I said I’m so mad about you. Those are like two opposite things, infuriation and infatuation. How can this one word, "mad," be both?
Idioms for mad
like mad, Informal.
with great haste, impulsiveness, energy, or enthusiasm: She ran like mad to catch the bus.
mad as a hatter,
completely insane.
Origin of mad
before 900; Middle English
mad (adj.),
madden (intransitive v., derivative of the adj.); Old English
gemǣd(
e)
d, past participle of
*gemǣdan to make mad, akin to
gemād mad, foolish; cognate with Old Saxon
gemēd, Old High German
gimeit foolish
SYNONYMS FOR mad
5
frenzied.
synonym study for mad
4.
Mad,
crazy,
insane are used to characterize wildly impractical or foolish ideas, actions, etc.
Mad suggests senselessness and excess:
The scheme of buying the bridge was absolutely mad. In informal usage,
crazy suggests recklessness and impracticality:
a crazy young couple.
Insane is used with some opprobrium to express unsoundness and possible harmfulness:
The new traffic system is simply insane.
usage note for mad
Mad meaning “enraged, angry” has been used since 1300, and this sense is a very common one. Because some teachers and usage critics insist that the only correct meaning of
mad is “mentally disturbed, insane,”
mad is often replaced by
angry in formal contexts:
The president is angry at Congress for overriding his veto.
historical usage of mad
The history of
mad is complicated both in form and in meaning. In form
mad goes back to Old English
gemǣd “troubled in mind, demented,” the past participle of an unrecorded verb
gemǣdan “to madden, make foolish,” a derivative of the adjective
gemād (also
mād ) “unreasoning, foolish, mad.”
The Old English forms are from the Germanic adjective gamaidaz “changed for the worse, abnormal.” The element maid- in gamaidaz is from Proto-Indo-European moi-, a variant of the root mei-, moi- “to change, exchange, go, move,” extended with a dental suffix ( -d in Germanic, -t elsewhere). The same suffixed variant moit- appears in Latin mūtāre “to change, exchange, give and receive in exchange.” Sicilian Greek (therefore likely to be influenced by Latin) has the noun moîtos “thanks, favor, reward,” which is possibly a borrowing from Old Latin moitus.
The progression of senses of mad starts with its original sense in Old English, “troubled in mind, demented.” The senses “rabid (dog),” “foolish or unwise,” and “overcome by desire or eagerness” are all recorded from around 1300. Mad in the sense “enraged, angry” arose after about 1400. This sense of mad is the usual colloquial term in the United States (the British are more likely to use angry ) and has been condemned by the arbiters of usage since the late-18th century. The sense “wildly lively, merry” is an Americanism, associated with jazz and African Americans, and dates to the early 1940s.
like mad (initially, for mad ) is quite old, from the 14th century. We take it today to mean “with great haste or energy,” but the original meaning was more literal: “in the manner of one who is mad.”
The Old English forms are from the Germanic adjective gamaidaz “changed for the worse, abnormal.” The element maid- in gamaidaz is from Proto-Indo-European moi-, a variant of the root mei-, moi- “to change, exchange, go, move,” extended with a dental suffix ( -d in Germanic, -t elsewhere). The same suffixed variant moit- appears in Latin mūtāre “to change, exchange, give and receive in exchange.” Sicilian Greek (therefore likely to be influenced by Latin) has the noun moîtos “thanks, favor, reward,” which is possibly a borrowing from Old Latin moitus.
The progression of senses of mad starts with its original sense in Old English, “troubled in mind, demented.” The senses “rabid (dog),” “foolish or unwise,” and “overcome by desire or eagerness” are all recorded from around 1300. Mad in the sense “enraged, angry” arose after about 1400. This sense of mad is the usual colloquial term in the United States (the British are more likely to use angry ) and has been condemned by the arbiters of usage since the late-18th century. The sense “wildly lively, merry” is an Americanism, associated with jazz and African Americans, and dates to the early 1940s.
like mad (initially, for mad ) is quite old, from the 14th century. We take it today to mean “with great haste or energy,” but the original meaning was more literal: “in the manner of one who is mad.”
OTHER WORDS FROM mad
Words nearby mad
Definition for mad (2 of 3)
Definition for mad (3 of 3)
Example sentences from the Web for mad
British Dictionary definitions for mad (1 of 2)
mad
/ (mæd) /
adjective madder or maddest
verb mads, madding or madded
archaic
to make or become mad; act or cause to act as if mad
Derived forms of mad
maddish, adjectiveWord Origin for mad
Old English
gemǣded, past participle of
gemǣdan to render insane; related to
gemād insane, and to Old High German
gimeit silly, crazy, Old Norse
meitha to hurt, damage
British Dictionary definitions for mad (2 of 2)
MAD
/ (mæd) /
n acronym for US
mutual assured destruction: a theory of nuclear deterrence whereby each side in a conflict has the capacity to destroy the other in retaliation for a nuclear attack
Medical definitions for mad
mad
[ măd ]
adj.
Angry; resentful.
Suffering from a disorder of the mind; insane.
Affected by rabies; rabid.
Idioms and Phrases with mad
mad