Mad Meaning
/ˈmæd/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjInsane; crazy, mentally deranged.
adjAngry, annoyed.
Sentence Examples
He was still mad about the accident despite his wife's conciliatory words.
For a moment there, I thought he had gone mad.
You must be mad to risk it.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After seeing the broken vase, my mother was very ____ and started shouting.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His behavior was so strange that people began to think he had gone completely ____ from the isolation.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), literary German gemeit (“mad, insane”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I have heard my grandsire say full oft, / Extremity of griefs would make men mad."
— c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
"Sometimes, I feel sure he is as mad as a hatter; and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is method in his madness."
— 1920 October, Agatha Christie, “The Arrest”, in The Mysterious Affair at Styles […], New York, N.Y.; London: Grosset & Dunlap, published March 1927, page 218:
"Dr. Manuel: Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left!"
— 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime:
"And I punished them oft in euery Synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them euen vnto strange cities."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 26:11:
"She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
After seeing the broken vase, my mother was very ____ and started shouting.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His behavior was so strange that people began to think he had gone completely ____ from the isolation.