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

New 'Lilo & Stitch' falls short of first film's unhinged brilliance Is the 'Lilo & Stitch' remake appropriate for little kids? —Brian Truitt, USA Today, 23 May 2025

Magnussen’s unhinged glee at the vagaries of Earth is comedic gold, while Galifianakis deploys his trademark deadpan effectively as the film’s true antagonist. —EW.com, 20 May 2025

There are plenty of weird conspiracies on TikTok about Beyoncé, both satirical and sincere, and the Zendaya big hat meme is a parody of an unhinged conspiracy theory. —Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 6 May 2025

In Praise Of Don’t reduce his career to his unhinged characters. —Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times, 2 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unhinged

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