lunacy means the state of being mad, insanity; A cyclical mental disease, apparently linked to the lunar phases. It carries an Arena rating of 1715, earned across 14 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, lunacy ranks #438 of 42,752 for Qualifying, #892 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,036 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,154 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
lunacy is pronounced /ˈluː.nə.si/.
Why “lunacy” is a great word
A state of insanity or extreme foolishness, historically associated with the supposed influence of the moon. From the Latin lunaticus ("moonstruck, insane"), from luna ("moon") + the suffix -cy, first attested in English in the 1540s. Unlike "madness," a broad term for mental derangement, or "foolishness," which suggests mere lack of sense, lunacy implies a specific, periodic unhinging tethered to celestial cycles. It is the wild-eyed wanderer on a moon-drenched night, the sleepwalker’s bare feet on dew-slick grass, and the sudden, unaccountable urge to scream into the frost-laced air—a testament to the ancient suspicion that our minds are not wholly our own, but drift in the cold, indifferent glow of a rock in the sky.
Etymology
From lun(atic) + -acy.
noun
- The state of being mad, insanity; A cyclical mental disease, apparently linked to the lunar phases.
- The state of being mad, insanity; Insanity implying legal irresponsibility.
- Something deeply misguided.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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