Definition of madness
- … fortifications against an inner darkness, the threat of madness that crouched above him throughout his life.
- —Robert F. Moss
- an idea that is pure/sheer madness
He suffered a series of tragedies that nearly drove him to madness.
Her friends told her the idea was pure madness, but she went through with it anyway.
It was the height of madness for him to drive at such high speeds!
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'madness.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
14th century
anger, angriness, furor, fury, indignation, irateness, ire, lividity, lividness, mad, outrage, rage, spleen, wrath, wrathfulness;
aggravation, annoyance, exasperation, irritation, vexation;
acrimoniousness, acrimony, animosity, antagonism, antipathy, bile, bitterness, contempt, embitterment, enmity, grudge, hostility, rancor;
envy, jaundice, jealousy, pique, resentment;
malevolence, malice, spite, vengefulness, venom, vindictiveness, virulence, vitriol;
belligerence, contentiousness, contrariness, crankiness, disputatiousness, hot-headedness, irascibility, irascibleness, irritability, orneriness, pugnaciousness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, querulousness;
blowup, flare, flare-up, outburst;
slow burn;
See words that rhyme with madness Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for madness Spanish Central: Translation of madness Nglish: Translation of madness for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of madness for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about madness
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