Wiktionary

lunatic

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English lunatik, from Old French lunatique, from Late Latin lunaticus (“moonstruck”), derived from Latin luna (“moon”), the connection stemming from the belief that changes of the moon caused intermittent insanity.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lunatic (plural lunatics)

  1. An insane person.
    Synonyms: moonling; see also Thesaurus:mad person
    • 1902, Hilaire Belloc, The Path to Rome:
      While there are other races (or individuals—heaven forgive me, I am no ethnologist) who think you a criminal or a lunatic unless you carefully plod along from step to step like a hippopotamus out of water.
    • 1980 March 7, Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”, in Glass Houses‎[1]:
      You may be right
      I may be crazy
      Oh, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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lunatic (comparative more lunatic, superlative most lunatic)

  1. Crazed, mad, insane, demented.
  2. (literary, rare) Relating to the Moon; lunar.
    • 1996, Joel C. Relihan, “Menippus in Antiquity and the Renaissance”, in R. Bracht Branham, Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, editors, The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy, Berkeley, C.A. […]: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 269:
      As the narrator turns his attention to the moon itself and its Lunatic inhabitants, Heinsius seems to draw on the True History, but is still within the confines of the Icaromenippus.
    • 2020, Kim Stanley Robinson, chapter 53, in The Ministry for the Future, New York, N.Y.: Orbit Books, →ISBN, page 235:
      That or I might bounce off something I hit and head back out into space, become the light in the eye of some lunatic observer, looking up at the big blue ball and seeing me bang something in their retina.
  1. (literary, rare) Influenced or affected by the Moon.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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Anagrams

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Romanian

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Latin lūnāticus, equivalent to lună +‎ -atic.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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lunatic m (plural lunatici)

  1. somnambulist, sleepwalker
    Synonyms: somnambul, somnambulist, noctambul
  2. (rare) dullard, fool, scatterbrain
    Synonyms: prostănac, cretin
Declension
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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative lunatic lunaticul lunatici lunaticii
genitive-dative lunatic lunaticului lunatici lunaticilor
vocative lunaticule lunaticilor

Adjective

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lunatic m or n (feminine singular lunatică, masculine plural lunatici, feminine and neuter plural lunatice)

  1. (popular, rare) born in the same month as another
Declension
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singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative 		indefinite lunatic lunatică lunatici lunatice
definite lunaticul lunatica lunaticii lunaticele
genitive-
dative 		indefinite lunatic lunatice lunatici lunatice
definite lunaticului lunaticei lunaticilor lunaticelor
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Etymology 2

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Borrowed from French lunatique, Italian lunatico.

Adjective

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lunatic m or n (feminine singular lunatică, masculine plural lunatici, feminine and neuter plural lunatice)

  1. (rare) having hallucinations
  2. (rare) fantastic, unreal, bizarre
  3. having unusual or strange ideas and behavior
  4. (rare) fearful
Declension
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singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative 		indefinite lunatic lunatică lunatici lunatice
definite lunaticul lunatica lunaticii lunaticele
genitive-
dative 		indefinite lunatic lunatice lunatici lunatice
definite lunaticului lunaticei lunaticilor lunaticelor
See also
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Further reading

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