madnessmad‧ness /ˈmædnəs/ ●●○ noun [uncountable] 
It would be madness to drive all that way on your own. Cutting down the forest is sheer madness (=completely crazy).2serious mental illness SYN insanity: His family has a history of madness.3moment/fit of madness when someone does something without thinking clearly: In a moment of madness, I agreed to have the party at my house. → there’s method in/to somebody’s madness at method(3)
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- By the end of the book, Peter's addiction has led him to madness and suicide.
- Smith's photographs reflect the madness of our times.
- Some prisoners feigned madness so that they would be released.
- Stores are preparing for the annual holiday shopping madness.
- Bearing these points in mind, let us now start to consider the question of creativity and madness in more detail.
- Grandcourt finds Gwendolen screaming in a fit of madness.
- Hera who never forgot a wrong sent the madness upon him.
- His madness and his recovery were still very much present to him, and he would occasionally talk or write about both.
- How could my dream have produced such madness?
- I grew possessed by madness to deceive.
- Maya hears in its voice madness, self-hate.
- She made it sound like bally madness.
Longman Language Activatorcrazy things/ideas/situations
also mad British especially spoken ideas, actions, or situations that are crazy or mad are not at all sensible and are likely to cause problems or danger: · Jade wants to build a swimming pool in the garden, which I think is a mad idea.· You see drivers do some crazy things.it's/that's crazy: · It's crazy to have an expensive, elaborate judicial system handling parking tickets and minor traffic violations.· The farmers get more money from the government if they don't plant crops, and I think that's just crazy.
especially American, spoken crazy and making no sense, especially in an amusing way: · She has these screwy theories about how crystals can cure all kinds of illnesses.· Warren Brigs, president of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, calls the proposal a "screwy idea".
something that is insane is completely crazy, because it cannot possibly succeed or is very dangerous: · For some insane reason he decided to do the whole journey in one day.it is insane to do something: · It would be insane to try to go camping in this kind of weather.
behaviour that it is completely crazy: · Coppola's film shows the madness of war.it's madness/lunacy: · They can't build a motorway through all that beautiful parkland -- it's madness!it is madness/lunacy to do something: · It is madness for a country to spend that much on its military.
mental illness an illness of the mind: · Depression is a mental illness and can often be treated with drugs.· He had a history of mental illness and alcoholism.suffer from (a) mental illness: · SANELINE is the first helpline for people suffering from mental illness.
especially British serious and permanent mental illness - used especially in literature, but not used in official or medical contexts: · By the end of the book, Peter's addiction has led him to madness and suicide.feign madness (=pretend to be mad): · Some prisoners feigned madness so that they would be released.
formal serious and permanent mental illness - use this especially in legal contexts or in descriptions of people who lived in the past: · Hearing voices inside your head is a common symptom of insanity.· Hodge was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
formal a mental illness - used especially by doctors: personality/mood disorder: · Children who suffer from personality disorders often receive little or no treatment until it's too late.psychiatric/mental disorder: · There was no evidence of her having a psychiatric disorder, although it was clear that she had become withdrawn since the breakup of her relationship.
a mental illness which makes you so anxious and unhappy that you cannot live a normal life: suffer from depression: · He has been suffering from depression since his wife died last year.deep/severe depression: · She suffers from periods of deep depression, when she locks herself away and will speak to no one for weeks.
a mental illness that affects old people and makes them unable to think clearly and become confused very easily : · Of all the associated problems to do with getting old, senility is the one she dreads most.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Cutting down the forest is sheer madness (=completely crazy).COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES his descent into drug abuseCOLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
Cutting down the forest is sheer madness (=completely crazy). his descent into drug abuse· There is sheer blazing madness in here.· Clearing a rainforest in this way is sheer madness.· Cutting down the forest is sheer madness.· Moving from the shade to the middle of the field seemed sheer madness.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► there’s method in/to somebody’s madness
1especially British English very stupid behaviour that could be dangerous or have a very bad effectit is madness (for somebody) to do something- A brief moment of madness, I admit.
- Essex are likely to fine Neil Foster for his moments of madness yesterday.
- Francis made his will in a moment of madness.
- Grandcourt finds Gwendolen screaming in a fit of madness.
- He wondered if the bad blood of the d'Urbervilles was to blame for this moment of madness.
- In a moment of madness Rosenoir kicked Alan Kernaghan as he lay on the ground.
- It was a moment of madness.
- Just that one brief moment of madness ... Then the bitter tears of self-reproach.
- He caught me in a moment of weakness.
- I had a moment of panic.
- In a moment of madness Rosenoir kicked Alan Kernaghan as he lay on the ground.
- In a moment of weakness the President had accepted the invitation.
- It was a moment of madness.
- She rang the doorbell, listened to the silence within and felt a moment of panic.
- What mattered was that one of the legs had been used by the gang in a moment of panic.
It would be madness to drive all that way on your own. Cutting down the forest is sheer madness (=completely crazy).2serious mental illness SYN insanity: His family has a history of madness.3moment/fit of madness when someone does something without thinking clearly: In a moment of madness, I agreed to have the party at my house. → there’s method in/to somebody’s madness at method(3)