# mad

Pronunciation: say "MAD" US /ˈmæd/, AUS /ˈmæːd/

## Adjective

1. Feeling angry or annoyed about something. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: Feeling angry or upset with someone or something.
   - _He got mad when the meeting was canceled at the last minute._
   - _I'm not mad, just a little disappointed in how it went._
2. Mentally deranged; not in one's right mind.
   - Simple: Mentally ill in a serious way, so a person cannot think normally.
   - _The doctors feared he had gone completely mad after months of isolation._
   - _Her family worried she was going mad when she started hearing voices._
3. Wildly confused or excited; full of frantic activity.
   - Simple: Full of wild, excited, or confused activity.
   - _The newsroom went mad as reporters scrambled to cover the breaking story._
   - _There was a mad rush for the exits when the alarm sounded._
4. Extremely foolish, unwise, or reckless.
   - Simple: Very foolish or risky, and not a sensible thing to do.
   - _It was mad to invest his entire savings in a single risky venture._
   - _Quitting a stable job with no backup plan seemed completely mad to her parents._
5. Extremely enthusiastic about or infatuated with someone or something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Very excited about something, or loving someone a lot.
   - _Teenagers were absolutely mad about the new band's debut album._
   - _He's mad about vintage cars and spends every weekend restoring them._
6. Abnormally ferocious or furious; (of an animal) rabid.
   - Simple: Very wild and fierce, or sick with rabies, a disease that makes animals attack and bite.
   - _The farmer shot the mad dog before it could bite the livestock._
   - _A mad fox wandered into the village, foaming at the mouth._
11. Used litotically, especially in 'not mad,' to express satisfaction or quiet approval. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used with 'not' to show you are happy with or okay about something.
   - _The hotel upgraded us to a suite for free, and honestly, I'm not mad about it._
   - _An extra day off this week? Can't say I'm mad at that._
8. Denoting a large amount or high quality of something; a lot of. *(dialectal, New York)*
   - Simple: Used before a noun to mean 'a lot of' something, or something very good and impressive.
   - _The chef put mad effort into every dish on the menu._
   - _He's got mad talent, but he needs more discipline._
9. Bizarre or incredible; astonishing. *(colloquial, Ireland, UK)*
   - Simple: Very strange or amazing, and hard to believe.
   - _It's mad that they finished the whole project in a single weekend._
   - _The coincidence was so mad that nobody quite believed it._

## Adverb

7. To a great degree; very; extremely. *(dialectal, Ireland, New York, UK)*
   - Simple: Used to mean 'very' or 'extremely' before another word.
   - _The concert was mad loud, and my ears rang for hours afterward._
   - _She's mad talented at drawing._

## Verb

10. To make angry; to anger or frustrate someone. *(colloquial, Jamaica, US)*
   - Simple: To make someone angry or upset.
   - _Quit bringing up that missed shot, you're only doing it to mad me._
   - _Nothing mads her faster than being interrupted mid-sentence._

## Verb

12. To be or become insane or enraged. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To go crazy, or to become very angry.

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Describing a compass needle whose magnetic polarity has been weakened or damaged.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–9, 11** — From Middle English mad, from Old English ġemǣd(ed) "enraged," the past participle of a verb meaning "to make insane or foolish." This traces to Proto-Germanic *maidijaną ("to change; damage; make mad") and *maidaz ("weak; crippled"), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to change," with cognates such as Old High German gimeit ("foolish, crazy") and Gothic gamaiþs ("crippled").
**Meanings 10, 12** — This verb grew out of the adjective mad during the Middle English period, when it took the form madden. Old English had a similar verb, ġemǣdan, that is worth comparing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mad (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).