1
as in lunatic
a person having or showing a severely disordered or abnormal state of mind
some nutcase was arrested for running out onto the baseball field while the game was in progress
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2
as in eccentric
a person of odd or whimsical habits
around the condo complex she's known as the nutcase who consistently ignores the rules
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in fool
a person who lacks good sense or judgment
only a nutcase would try to accelerate a campfire by dousing it with gasoline
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of nutcase
Although My Donkey, My Lover & I (Antoinette dans les Cévennes) was made in 2020, before Libs of TikTok exposed school-teacher lunacy, writer-director Caroline Vignal proves prescient about the eccentricity that goes deeper than the profession’s nutcase radicalism.
—
Armond White, National Review, 27 July 2022
Ma Seok-do (Ma) is still with the Geumcheon Police Major Crimes Unit, arriving to help his fellow officers deal with a knife-wielding nutcase who’s taken hostages at a corner store.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 June 2022
None of this is to deny the Republican lurch to the extreme right and the wild popularity of conspiracy theories and nutcase politics.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 24 May 2022
That is enough to prompt scheduling a video chat with a purported demonologist (Laura Heisler) who does not seem a nutcase or charlatan.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 10 Aug. 2022
Video testimony provided other repudiations of Eastman’s nutcase legal theory.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 17 June 2022
The Trump factor alone suggests that the odds are high Republicans will nominate some nutcase candidates in winnable races who make Marjorie Taylor Greene seem like a moderate.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 1 Mar. 2022
That’s the date when nutcase Congressman Paul Gosar posted that hideous tweet about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
—Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 15 Nov. 2021
This sole non-English-language chapter is an immediately over-the-top mad scientist fantasia, with Budi Ross as a cackling nutcase in scrubs whose unfortunate subjects (there are many) get subjected to the most diabolical surgical procedures.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Oct. 2021
Armond White, National Review, 27 July 2022
Ma Seok-do (Ma) is still with the Geumcheon Police Major Crimes Unit, arriving to help his fellow officers deal with a knife-wielding nutcase who’s taken hostages at a corner store.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 June 2022
None of this is to deny the Republican lurch to the extreme right and the wild popularity of conspiracy theories and nutcase politics.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 24 May 2022
That is enough to prompt scheduling a video chat with a purported demonologist (Laura Heisler) who does not seem a nutcase or charlatan.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 10 Aug. 2022
Video testimony provided other repudiations of Eastman’s nutcase legal theory.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 17 June 2022
The Trump factor alone suggests that the odds are high Republicans will nominate some nutcase candidates in winnable races who make Marjorie Taylor Greene seem like a moderate.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 1 Mar. 2022
That’s the date when nutcase Congressman Paul Gosar posted that hideous tweet about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
—Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 15 Nov. 2021
This sole non-English-language chapter is an immediately over-the-top mad scientist fantasia, with Budi Ross as a cackling nutcase in scrubs whose unfortunate subjects (there are many) get subjected to the most diabolical surgical procedures.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Oct. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nutcase
Noun
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Robert Redford delivers folksy wisdom as a local eccentric who once had his own dragon encounter, and even Karl Urban’s greedy logger is more of a nuisance than an outright villain.—
Josh Bell,
Vulture,
21 Mar. 2025
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Attracting talent for greater innovation hazards acquiring a few eccentrics whose gifts come wrapped in controversial packaging.—
Chip Bell,
Forbes,
15 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The first introduced the audience to the cast of the film: Sally Hawkins, playing a kindly foster mother who — as Danny introduced her — might be a psychopath, Billy Barratt and Sora Wong as her two new foster kids, and Jonah Wren Phillips as her younger, troubled foster son.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
31 Mar. 2025
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In separate filings, the defense is also asking the court to limit the use of the words murder, psychopath and sociopath.—
Michael Ruiz,
Fox News,
8 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The thread that connects each of these characters' stories is the choice between sacrifice and preservation.—
DeVonne Goode,
Parents,
21 Apr. 2025
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But Season 2, by leaning so far into its characters’ anguish, has become more circular and suffocating in its storytelling.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
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True leaders are known for building things, fools for destroying them.—
Tom Zirpoli,
Baltimore Sun,
15 Apr. 2025
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The mix of Greek mythology, robots and mechanical flying scorpions is a little all over the place, but my son was plenty entertained by Scooby and Shaggy’s ability to act like bumbling fools one minute and brave heroes the next.—
Dina Gachman,
New York Times,
4 Apr. 2025
Noun
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That joke might be fine if everyone in Smash were a maniac.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
11 Apr. 2025
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And one week after his party homicidal maniacs had started a war that, among a great many other shocking and despicable things, had alienated his daughter from him and from her family and people.—
David Bezmozgis,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2025
Noun
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That’s what Elliot (Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Ortega) confront while on a journey to a retreat hosted by Elliot’s greedy crackpot boss (Grant).—
Randy Myers,
The Mercury News,
21 Mar. 2025
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With Mickey 17, Pattinson doubles down (literally) on the crackpot touches and gives Bong’s follow-up to Parasite a true sense of unpredictable, undeniable lunacy.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
8 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Texturally, the series is best categorized as a psycho-thriller, but the design of the episodes is never redundant.—
WIRED,
WIRED,
17 Mar. 2023
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Another summer, another hook-wielding psycho killer — and maybe some familiar faces too.—
Jessica Wang,
EW.com,
7 Feb. 2023
Noun
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Three-time Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan is its heart, providing a grounding presence between the grumpy musician and lovable weirdo.—
Lisa Wong Macabasco,
Vogue,
28 Mar. 2025
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Despite the rather unseemly elements of the Fenn hunt—more than a few weirdos stalked Fenn and his family, and one even broke into his house—Gold & Greed argues that this spirit of outdoor exploration made the ordeal worth it.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside Online,
27 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Nutcase.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nutcase. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.
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