unhinged

adjective

un·​hinged ˌən-ˈhinjd 

: highly disturbed, unstable, or distraught

attacked by an unhinged extremist

Somewhere along the way, her pursuit of a hot guy turned into unhinged obsession.

—Cosmopolitan

"Is this a new brand of humour? Or is your brain really unhinged?" inquired Tommy.

—Agatha Christie

see also unhinge

Synonyms

• balmy
• barmy [chiefly British]
• bats
• batty
• bedlam
• bonkers
• brainsick
• bughouse [slang]
• certifiable
• crackbrained
• cracked
• crackers
• crackpot
• cranky [dialect]
• crazed
• crazy
• cuckoo
• daffy
• daft
• demented
• deranged
• fruity [slang]
• gaga
• haywire
• insane
• kooky
• kookie
• loco [slang]
• loony
• looney
• loony tunes
• looney tunes
• lunatic
• mad
• maniacal
• maniac
• mental
• meshuga
• meshugge
• meshugah
• meshuggah
• moonstruck
• non compos mentis
• nuts
• nutty
• psycho
• psychotic
• scatty [chiefly British]
• screwy
• unbalanced
• unsound
• wacko
• whacko
• wacky
• whacky
• wud [chiefly Scottish]

Examples of unhinged in a Sentence

destined to become one of the nation's most notorious serial killers, he apparently became unhinged as a result of being abandoned as a young teen

Recent Examples on the Web

And Moore, in those frames, is transcendent, her expression ecstatic and maniacal and unhinged. —Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2025

Hollywood's biggest party of the year — often the most hilariously unhinged of the annual awards shindigs — is already somehow upon us this Sunday. —Lauren Huff, EW.com, 3 Jan. 2025

Jamie goes fully unhinged about it all at with record-breaking speed. —Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 3 Jan. 2025

Mark Wahlberg plays an unhinged, balding hitman masquerading as a chatty helicopter pilot in a new trailer for Mel Gibson’s upcoming thriller, Flight Risk. —Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 1 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above