Meaning & use
paranoid
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparableinformal
Wrongly believing that other people are plotting against you or watching you, and feeling very anxious as a result.
Grammar: Often followed by about: paranoid about security.
Patterns
- paranoid about something
- paranoid that someone
After the break-in, he became paranoid about locking the doors.
She felt paranoid that her coworkers were whispering about her.
Don't be paranoid, nobody is following you.
adjectivebefore a nounmedical
Describing a serious mental condition with fixed, unfounded fears of persecution.
Grammar: Clinical use: paranoid delusions.
Patterns
- paranoid delusions
The doctor treated him for paranoid delusions.
Paranoid thoughts can be a symptom of several illnesses.
The patient showed paranoid behavior.
nouncountablerare
A person who suffers from paranoia.
Grammar: Rare and best avoided; prefer 'a person with paranoia'.
The study followed several paranoids over time.
The film portrays a paranoid in a tense thriller.
Clinicians avoid calling anyone a paranoid.
Word forms
| comparative | more paranoid |
|---|---|
| superlative | most paranoid |
Common combinations
- paranoid about
- He is paranoid about germs.
- paranoid delusion
- Her paranoid delusions worsened without treatment.
- get paranoid
- I get paranoid when I walk home at night.
- slightly paranoid
- I'm slightly paranoid about missing the flight.
- paranoid thoughts
- Stress can trigger paranoid thoughts.
Synonyms and how they differ
- suspicious
- Suspicious can be reasonable, but paranoid means the suspicion has little basis.
- distrustful
- Distrustful is milder and simply means not trusting people.
- fearful
- Fearful means afraid, without the belief that others are plotting.
- obsessive
- Obsessive stresses fixation, while paranoid stresses fear of others.
Opposites
Word family
- paranoia noun
- unreasonable fear or suspicion of others
- paranoiac noun
- a person with paranoia, an older term
- paranoically adverb
- rare form
- paranoidly adverb
- in a paranoid way
Commonly confused: paranoid or parental?
paranoid vs parental
Parental relates to parents, and is unrelated even though the start looks similar.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'paranoid' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Paranoid is used for anxious, often unreasonable fear, with about. The other sentences use it in ways that do not make sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “paranoid”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.