'Insanity' definitions:
Definition of 'insanity'
From: WordNet
Definition of 'Insanity'
From: GCIDE
- Insanity \In*san"i*ty\, n. [L. insanitas unsoundness; cf. insania insanity, F. insanite.]
- 1. The state of being insane; unsoundness or derangement of mind; madness; lunacy. [1913 Webster]
- All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity. --Johnson. [1913 Webster]
- Without grace The heart's insanity admits no cure. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Law) Such a mental condition, as, either from the existence of delusions, or from incapacity to distinguish between right and wrong, with regard to any matter under action, does away with individual responsibility.
- Syn: Insanity, Lunacy, Madness, Derangement, Alienation, Aberration, Mania, Delirium, Frenzy, Monomania, Dementia.
- Usage: Insanity is the generic term for all such diseases; lunacy has now an equal extent of meaning, though once used to denote periodical insanity; madness has the same extent, though originally referring to the rage created by the disease; derangement, alienation, are popular terms for insanity; delirium, mania, and frenzy denote excited states of the disease; dementia denotes the loss of mental power by this means; monomania is insanity upon a single subject. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'insanity'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- aberration,
- absurdity,
- alienation,
- amentia,
- arrested development,
- asininity,
- backwardness,
- battiness,
- blithering idiocy,
- brain disease,
- brainlessness,
- buffoonery,
- clownishness,
- crack-up,
- crackpottedness,
- crankiness,
- craziness,
- cretinism,
- daffiness,
- delirium,
- delusion,
- dementia praecox,
- derangement,
- desipience,
- distraction,
- dotage,
- dottiness,
- eccentricity,
- emotional disorder,
- emotional instability,
- fatuity,
- fatuousness,
- folly,
- foolery,
- foolheadedness,
- foolishness,
- frenzy,
- frivolity,
- frivolousness,
- functional nervous disorder,
- giddiness,
- goofiness,
- half-wittedness,
- hallucination,
- hysteria,
- idiocy,
- idiotism,
- illusion,
- imbecility,
- impracticality,
- inanity,
- ineptitude,
- infantilism,
- insaneness,
- irrationality,
- irresponsibility,
- lunacy,
- madness,
- maladjustment,
- mania,
- manic-depressive psychosis,
- melancholia,
- mental defectiveness,
- mental deficiency,
- mental derangement,
- mental disorder,
- mental handicap,
- mental illness,
- mental retardation,
- mindlessness,
- mongolianism,
- mongolism,
- mongoloid idiocy,
- moronism,
- moronity,
- nervous breakdown,
- nervous disorder,
- neurosis,
- niaiserie,
- nonsense,
- nugacity,
- nuttiness,
- paranoia,
- personality disorder,
- preposterousness,
- problems in living,
- profound idiocy,
- psychoneurosis,
- psychopathy,
- psychosis,
- queerness,
- reaction,
- retardation,
- retardment,
- sappiness,
- schizophrenia,
- screwiness,
- senselessness,
- silliness,
- simple-wittedness,
- simplemindedness,
- simpleness,
- simplicity,
- social maladjustment,
- stupidity,
- subnormality,
- thoughtlessness,
- triflingness,
- triviality,
- unbalance,
- unreasonableness,
- wackiness,
- weirdness,
- witlessness,
- zaniness,
- zanyism