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

Charlamagne Tha God is one of the most popular voices in entertainment, largely due to his unhinged commentary on celebrities. —Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 26 Mar. 2025

The true crisis is coming from an unhinged lower-court judicial insurrection. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 21 Mar. 2025

Democrats amp up infighting and 'unhinged petulance' as approval rating plummets Trump is openly defying court orders. —Nicole Russell, USA TODAY, 20 Mar. 2025

But by the 1910s, the craze faded as people realized—perhaps too late—that squirrels are, in fact, completely unhinged. —Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 12 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unhinged

• cringed
• fringed
• hinged
• singed
• impinged
• infringed