SANITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sanity mean? 

• SANITY (noun)
  The noun SANITY has 1 sense:

1. normal or sound powers of mind

  Familiarity information: SANITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SANITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Normal or sound powers of mind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

saneness; sanity

Hypernyms ("sanity" is a kind of...):

mental health (the psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sanity"):

lucidity (a lucid state of mind; not confused)

rationality; reason; reasonableness (the state of having good sense and sound judgment)

Antonym:

insanity (relatively permanent disorder of the mind)

Derivation:

sane (mentally healthy; free from mental disorder)

 Context examples 

One can't keep his sanity in such an atmosphere.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I sometimes think we must be all mad and that we shall wake to sanity in strait-waistcoats.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was that vision which gave me an instant of sanity and of strength.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"It is the voice of sanity!" said Summerlee with conviction.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was no clearness or sanity in them—nothing but the terrific rage of a madman.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But now entered Hans, and she saw that his sanity and his salvation were involved.

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

How could the presence of these articles in my house affect either the honour, the sanity, or the life of my flighty colleague?

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

There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called the idée fixe, which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way.

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

In the meantime, the abysmal brute in Beauty Smith had been rising into his brain and mastering the small bit of sanity that he possessed at best.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Mind you don't, said Bessie; and when she had ascertained that I was really subsiding, she loosened her hold of me; then she and Miss Abbot stood with folded arms, looking darkly and doubtfully on my face, as incredulous of my sanity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)