Meaning & use
folie à deux
A shared delusion or irrational belief held simultaneously by two closely connected people.
See it in a sentence
Psychiatrists described the couple's shared conspiracy belief as a folie à deux.
The siblings' identical false memory of the event puzzled investigators as a folie à deux.
A note on using this word
This French phrase, meaning 'madness of two,' is a clinical term mainly used in psychiatry.
Words with a similar meaning
shared psychosis
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “folie à deux”, then compare your use with the examples above.
Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.