madwoman

[ mad-woom-uhn ]

noun

, plural mad·wom·en.

1. a woman who is or behaves as if insane.

madwoman

/ ˈmædwʊmən /

noun

1. a woman who is insane, esp one who behaves violently; lunatic

Word History and Origins

Origin of madwoman¹

1400–50; late Middle English. See mad, woman

Example Sentences

“There’s a fine line between madwoman and dreamer,” Maxine will observe, from the vantage of that line.

From Los Angeles Times

But first, Penny must stop in Santa Barbara to deal with Dr. Pincer, her cantankerous, 82-year-old grandmother, the “family’s private madwoman.”

From Washington Post

This week’s theme is “strong independent females,” featuring a novel about a madwoman and a true-crime account of a mob murderess.

From New York Times

We cannot keep locking madwomen in the attic just so we can free them to cheers and sighs of relief.

From Los Angeles Times

Biographer Judith Thurman, writing in the New Yorker in 2001, called Dr. Milford’s biography “one of the big literary events of the feminist new wave — the first liberation of a madwoman from the attic.”

From Washington Post

Related Words

• lunatic
• maniac
• psychopath