lunatic
part of speech
noun (a lunatic, lunatics); adjective (lunatic)
meaning for a pupil
1) (informal) A person who behaves in a wild, silly or dangerous way: «He drives like a lunatic». tree →
2) (adjective, informal) Very silly or crazy: «a lunatic idea». tree →
3) (old, now offensive) An old word for a person with a serious mental illness; today it is hurtful to use it this way. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday speech people say «drives like a lunatic» or «a lunatic idea» to mean reckless or crazy. In history lessons you meet «lunatic asylum», an old name for a hospital for people with mental illness. Today we say «mental illness» and «psychiatric hospital» instead, because «lunatic» about real ill people is hurtful. The word comes from Latin «luna» (moon): people once wrongly believed the moon made people mad.
examples
- Some lunatic was driving at 80 miles an hour past the school! tree →
- Jumping off the shed roof was a lunatic idea. tree →
- The crowd went lunatic when the goal went in. tree →
- In Victorian times there were places called lunatic asylums. tree →
- Grandma says the price of petrol is lunatic. tree →
- He was running round the garden like a lunatic. tree →
- Today we say «a person with a mental illness», not «a lunatic». tree →
- Some people believed a full moon made people act like lunatics, but science has not shown this. tree →
note
Countable: one lunatic, two lunatics. Informal and a bit rude when said about a person; never use it about people who are really ill. Myth: the full moon does not make people mad – studies have not found this. Related: «lunar» (about the moon), «lunacy» (madness, foolishness). Not a maths word.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «lunatic» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.