MAD (madded, madder, maddest, madding)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: madded    , madder    , maddest    , madding   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mad mean? 

• MAD (adjective)
  The adjective MAD has 4 senses:

1. roused to anger

2. affected with madness or insanity

3. marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion

4. very foolish

  Familiarity information: MAD used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MAD (adjective)

Comparative: madder   
Superlative: maddest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Roused to anger

Synonyms:

huffy; mad; sore

Context example:

sore over a remark

Similar:

angry (feeling or showing anger)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Derivation:

madness (a feeling of intense anger)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Affected with madness or insanity

Synonyms:

brainsick; crazy; demented; disturbed; mad; sick; unbalanced; unhinged

Context example:

a man who had gone mad

Similar:

insane (afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement)

Derivation:

madness (obsolete terms for legal insanity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion

Synonyms:

delirious; excited; frantic; mad; unrestrained

Context example:

a mad whirl of pleasure

Similar:

wild (marked by extreme lack of restraint or control)

Derivation:

madness (unrestrained excitement or enthusiasm)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Very foolish

Synonyms:

harebrained; insane; mad

Context example:

a completely mad scheme to build a bridge between two mountains

Similar:

foolish (devoid of good sense or judgment)

Derivation:

madness (the quality of being rash and foolish)

 Context examples 

Are you mad that speak such things, or am I mad to listen to them?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

For his own sake, I would not have him do so mad a thing.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

A shrill little whistle, piping as if gone mad, came from directly ahead and from very near at hand.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was mastered by the verb "to eat." He was hunger-mad.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Each of us, in his own way, got more mad every moment.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The dog-driver held the axe poised in his hand, and as Buck shot past him the axe crashed down upon mad Dolly’s head.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Yet there they sat, driven clean mad with terror, and Brenda lying dead of fright, with her head hanging over the arm of the chair.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“No sir,” he said: “not mad; but it is an odd hand.”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notions that contributed so much to save our lives.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)