lunacy


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lu·na·cy

 (lo͞o′nə-sē)
n. pl. lu·na·cies
1.
a. Mental derangement; craziness: "The Indians thought his obsession with giant bones a sign of harmless lunacy" (David Rains Wallace).
b. Archaic Intermittent mental derangement attributed to the changing phases of the moon.
2.
a. Great or wild foolishness: a policy that proved to be a piece of economic lunacy.
b. A wildly foolish or irrational act.

[From lunatic.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lunacy

(ˈluːnəsɪ)
n, pl -cies
1. (Psychiatry) (formerly) any severe mental illness
2. foolishness or a foolish act
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lu•na•cy

(ˈlu nə si)

n., pl. -cies.
1. insanity; mental disorder.
2. intermittent insanity, formerly believed to be related to phases of the moon.
3. extreme foolishness or an instance of it: The decision to resign was sheer lunacy.
4. Law. unsoundness of mind sufficient to incapacitate one for legal transactions.
[1535–45; lun (atic) + -acy]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

lunacy

1. periodic insanity, once thought to be caused by the phases of the moon.
2. any form of insanity. — lunatic, adj.
See also: Insanity
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.lunacy - obsolete terms for legal insanitylunacy - obsolete terms for legal insanity  
insanity - relatively permanent disorder of the mind
2.lunacy - foolish or senseless behaviorlunacy - foolish or senseless behavior  
frolic, gambol, romp, caper, play - gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement; "it was all done in play"; "their frolic in the surf threatened to become ugly"
meshugaas, mishegaas, mishegoss - (Yiddish) craziness; senseless behavior or activity
buffoonery, clowning, harlequinade, japery, prank, frivolity - acting like a clown or buffoon
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

lunacy

noun
2. insanity, madness, mania, dementia, psychosis, idiocy, derangement Lunacy became the official explanation for his actions.
insanity reason, sanity
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

lunacy

noun
1. Serious mental illness or disorder impairing a person's capacity to function normally and safely:
Psychiatry: mania.
Psychology: aberration, alienation.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
جُنون
šílenství
sindssygevanvid
hulluus
elmebaj
geîveiki
beprotisbeprotybėpamišėlis
liela muļķībavājprāts
delilik

lunacy

[ˈluːnəsɪ] N (fig) → locura f
it's sheer lunacy!¡es una locura!
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

lunacy

[ˈluːnəsi] ndémence f, folie f
It's sheer lunacy → C'est de la pure folie.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

lunacy

nWahnsinn m; it’s sheer lunacy!das ist reiner Wahnsinn!; lunacies plVerrücktheiten pl
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

lunacy

[ˈluːnəsɪ] ndemenza (fig) → pazzia, follia
it's sheer lunacy! → ma è una vera pazzia!
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

lunacy

(ˈluːnəsi) noun
insanity; madness.
ˈlunatic (-tik) adjective, noun
(abbreviation (usually unkind) loony (ˈluːni) plural ˈloonies) (a person who is) insane or crazy. Only a lunatic would do such a thing!
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

lu·na·cy

n. locura, demencia.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
References in classic literature ?
Baudoyer, Isidore The Middle Classes Cousin Pons Bianchon, Horace Father Goriot The Atheist's Mass Cesar Birotteau The Commission in Lunacy Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor's Establishment The Secrets of a Princess Pierrette A Study of Woman Scenes from a Courtesan's Life Honorine The Seamy Side of History The Magic Skin A Second Home A Prince of Bohemia Letters of Two Brides The Muse of the Department The Imaginary Mistress The Middle Classes Cousin Betty The Country Parson In addition, M.
It was lunacy, stark lunacy, and contagious on top of it all.
A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy, that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge's eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate.
"A single kink in my brain," Thomson continued, "a secret weakness, perhaps even a dash of lunacy, and I might be quite reasonably the master-spy of the world.
The humblest wayside juggler in India could mystify them to the verge of lunacy."
but I, cannot think of you as one of them,--in their brief New England pedigree, there has been time enough to infect them all with one kind of lunacy or another."
She saw that he stood on the verge of lunacy, if he had not already stepped across it.
So, to my fond faith, poor Pip, in this strange sweetness of his lunacy, brings heavenly vouchers of all our heavenly homes.
In my case, healthy, normal, young, full of the joy of life, the suggestion to kill myself was unusual; but it must be taken into account that it came on the heels of a long carouse, when my nerves and brain were fearfully poisoned, and that the dramatic, romantic side of my imagination, drink-maddened to lunacy, was delighted with the suggestion.
Now it attained a height which was sheer wild lunacy. That his, of all others, should have been the hands to rescue his miserable child; that he should have been his protector and faithful friend; that he should have shown him that love and tenderness which, from the wretched moment of his birth, he had never known; that he should have taught him to hate his own parent and execrate his very name; that he should now know and feel all this, and triumph in the recollection; was gall and madness to the usurer's heart.
Only a little lunacy, perhaps --and who minds that?"
I said, "Hang him, he had on TWO pair of boots!" For an hour that magician went on shuffling and pulling off boots till he had shed as many as twenty-five pair, and I was hovering on the verge of lunacy. I got my gun and stole up there.