craziness

[ krey-zee-nis ]

noun

1. the state or condition of being mentally deranged; madness:

   Thinking you can handle everything in life by yourself is itself a kind of craziness.

   The long, dark Arctic winter produced a kind of craziness in him.

2. Informal. the state or quality of being wildly busy, hectic, chaotic, etc.:

   Now that the Christmas craziness is over, I'm finally getting back to writing my blog.

3. Informal. an unpredictable, nonconforming, or odd quality; eccentricity:

   Dave is perfect for me—he understands me, laughs with me, and loves me in spite of my craziness.

4. Informal. a bizarre or random quality, or something having this quality:

   Shooting this movie we got away with a lot of improv and craziness and stuff that didn't have to fit or have much meaning behind it.

5. Informal. a rash, silly, or unsound quality, or behavior, ideas, etc., of this kind:

   He argued against the craziness of changing the clocks every fall, making late afternoon even more dangerous for children coming home from school.

6. Informal. intense or excessive emotion about someone or something; enthusiasm, infatuation, alarm, frustration, etc. (usually followed by about, for, or over ):

   His craziness about her is based solely on her beauty.

   I expect the switchboards to be lit up with people's craziness over this issue.

Word History and Origins

Origin of craziness¹

First recorded in 1610–20; crazy ( def ) + -ness ( def )

Example Sentences

“That's crazy, that's probably one of the games that got me here,” Winston said in a news conference Friday.

From Washington Post

That astounding arboreal vision inspired a dream, a fantasy, a crazy idea that I’ve been unable, or perhaps unwilling, to shake.

From Outside Online

Little issues like a squeaky lid, heavy materials, or poor lip-to-lid interaction can potentially drive you crazy over tens of thousands of sips.

From Outside Online

In big cities like New York and Los Angeles, rental searches are also dropping like crazy, as people acknowledge “all of the downsides” of urban life—higher costs of living and closer quarters—with few of the mostly social upsides, he said.

From Fortune

I let my mind go crazy, and I started smoking again like an idiot and I very much regret it.

From Vox

But some Democrats are exploiting the craziness as a fundraising call to arms.

From The Daily Beast

That was my first movie, so I was totally green, and he was at the height of his Scooby Doo craziness.

From The Daily Beast

He takes all the craziness, puts it in a juicer, and then it comes out.

From The Daily Beast

The Disney Store has set a new rule in wake of the craziness: a two Frozen item per customer limit has been enforced.

From The Daily Beast

All the Obama-related racial craziness will, obviously, end.

From The Daily Beast

Let him go to the graveyard, and yell his craziness out among the graves;—and not disturb honest men in their sleep.

From Project Gutenberg

The man is all crazed, and grand, awfully grand, in his craziness.

From Project Gutenberg

Before the bishop spoke agin you could see his craziness and his cunningness both working in his face.

From Project Gutenberg

I could n't help thinking, though, how many people I had known that had a little touch of craziness about them.

From Project Gutenberg

False faith is a craziness tew beleave, simpla bekauze we kant understand.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• absurdity
• idiocy
• insanity
• lunacy
• madness
• nonsense
• nuttiness
• silliness