sane
/seɪn
/adjective
1(Of a person) of sound mind; not mad or mentally ill: hard work kept me sane...
- The decision reopens a longstanding debate about whether mentally ill inmates can be executed if they are sane only while taking drugs.
- Any sane person will agree that the culprit of the Kitwe accident cannot be described as a normal person.
- Now that there have been two consultations, no sane person can claim that they have not had the opportunity to have their say!
Synonyms
of sound mind, right in the head, in one's right mind, in possession of all one's faculties, able to think/reason clearly, lucid, clear-headed, rational, coherent, balanced, well balanced, stable, normal;
Latin compos mentis
informal all there
1.1Reasonable or sensible: a sane discussion of the important social issues of our time...
- Persuade me also that there's a sane reason for dropping Cadenza from National Radio.
- There is no sane reason to review the acting or storyline in A Night To Dismember.
- I know nothing about shoe repair and resizing so I was wondering if this is a sane undertaking or if I should just cut my losses.
Synonyms
sensible, practical, advisable, responsible, realistic, full of common sense, prudent, circumspect, pragmatic, wise, reasonable, rational, mature, level-headed, commonsensical, judicious, politic, sound, balanced, sober
Derivatives
sanely
/ adverb ...- When he was writing at the beginning of the last century, such a word was ‘utopian’: ‘The mere utterance of it could damn any scheme, no matter how sanely conceived, of economic amelioration or regeneration’.
- No one could sanely oppose the purchase of up-to-date equipment; but many of our military challenges require a response from an army with substantial manpower.
- Regardless of which university we happen to be attending, one inevitably considers some variety of the question of how to live sanely in a difficult time.
saneness
- ‘I'm not extreme at either end of the scale,’ he says, ‘I like to fly in a helicopter - it's truly exciting and an opportunity to make a living - but hiking up and skiing down adds a great degree of safety and saneness to any ‘big peak’ skiing.
- You think it's going to come down to procreating to ensure the future of saneness?
- ‘Having positive people around is a really important piece to keeping your saneness in having a baby,’ she said.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin sanus 'healthy'.
sanity from Late Middle English:
Latin sanus meant ‘healthy’ which is the first recorded sense of sanity in English. Current meanings date from the early 17th century when sane was first recorded, although insane dates from the mid 16th century. Sanitary, sanitation, and sanatorium where you go to recover your health, all 19th century, come from the same root.