insanityn.
/ɪnˈsanɪti/ 1. The condition of being insane; unsoundness of mind as a consequence of brain-disease; madness, lunacy. Originally, called insanity of mind.‘A condition of the mind in which a false action of conception or judgment, a defective power of the will, or an uncontrollable violence of the emotions and instincts, have separately or conjointly been produced by disease’ (Dr. J. C. Bucknill, Crim. Lunacy (1854) 28).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [noun] > insanity or madness
woodnessc1000
woodshipc1000
madshipc1225
woodc1275
woodhead1303
ragec1330
amentiaa1398
madnessa1398
frenzy?a1400
madheada1400
maddingc1400
alienation?a1425
furiosity?a1475
derverye1480
forcenery1480
furiousnessc1500
unwitness1527
unwitting1527
demencya1529
straughtness1530
insaniea1538
brainsickness1541
lunacy1541
amenty1557
distraughtness1576
dementation?1583
straughtedness1583
insanity1590
crazedness1593
bedlam1598
dementia1598
insanation1599
non compos mentis1607
distraction1609
daffinga1614
disinsanitya1625
cerebrosity1647
vecordy1656
fanaticness1662
non-sanity1675
insaneness1730
craziness1755
hydrophobia1760
vecord1788
derangement1800
vesania1800
a screw loose1810
unsoundness1825
dementedness1833
craze1841
psychosis1847
crackiness1861
feyness1873
crack1891
meshugas1898
white ant1908
crackedness1910
pottiness1933
loopiness1939
wackiness1941
screwballism1942
kink1959
1590 H. Swinburne Briefe Treat. Test. & Willes ii. f. 36v Madfolkes and Lunaticke persons, during the time of their furor or insanitie of minde, cannot make a testament.
a1677 M. Hale Historia Placitorum Coronæ (R.) There is a partial insanity of mind and a total insanity. This partial insanity seems not to excuse them in the committing of any offence for its matter capital.
1772 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra II. lxviii. 343 Did they attempt to produce any evidence of his insanity?
1782 T. Arnold (title) Observations on the Nature, Kinds, Causes, and Prevention of Insanity.
1827 W. Scott Highland Widow in Chron. Canongate 1st Ser. I. xii. 265 The murder of an officer may be..coloured over with [the plea]..of temporary insanity.
1859 Engineer VII. 282/2 Two cases of suicide..In each case the coroner's jury brought in a verdict of temporary insanity.
1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Aug. 4/1 The definition of insanity..as an inability to reason upon the evidence of the senses.
1897 Dict. National Biogr. LII. 320/2 D. Skae's..definition of insanity as ‘a disease of the brain affecting the mind’ is not disputable.
2. Extreme folly or want of sound sense; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > madness, extreme folly > [noun]
woodnessc1000
woodhead1303
madnessc1384
ragec1390
lunacya1592
idiotism1592
wittolry1592
midsummer madnessa1616
hare-brainedness1656
idiotry1757
insanity1840
meshugas1898
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > madness, extreme folly > [noun] > instance of
ragea1400
insanity1840
1840 T. Arnold Let. 23 Jan. in A. P. Stanley Life & Corr. T. Arnold (1844) II. ix. 185 To lose which..would be rather our insanity than our misfortune.
1844 R. W. Emerson Young Amer. in Lect. in Wks. (1906) II. 306 After all the deduction is made for our frivolities and insanities.
1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. v. §61. 225 Did we..use the term effect..we should be in little danger of falling into the insanities of idealism.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations.
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1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 28 May 7/2 One cannot conclude that their insanity rate is remarkably high.
1894 Daily News 26 July 9/2 Dr. B——, insanity expert, who had examined the prisoner at the request of the Treasury, said prisoner was now perfectly sane.
1896 Westm. Gaz. 6 Nov. 6/3 Eminent nerve and insanity specialists gave evidence.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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