Meaning & use
unhinged
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableinformaldisapproving
Behaving in a wild, irrational or dangerous way, as if mentally unstable.
Grammar: Can come after a linking verb or before a noun: he seemed unhinged; an unhinged rant.
Patterns
- seem unhinged
- an unhinged rant
The letter was so unhinged that the police were called.
He looked unhinged after days without sleep.
Her unhinged shouting scared the whole room.
adjectivecomparableinformalhumorous
Wildly extreme or absurd, though not necessarily dangerous, and often used humorously.
Grammar: Used lightly in casual speech: an unhinged sense of humor.
Patterns
- unhinged humor
- gloriously unhinged
The comedian's unhinged sense of humor made the audience laugh.
The movie is a gloriously unhinged road trip.
Their group chat gets pretty unhinged after midnight.
adjectivenot comparablerare
Of a door or gate, taken off its hinges, or in a literal sense not attached by hinges.
Grammar: Literal and rare, used about doors and gates.
Patterns
- an unhinged door
The unhinged door leaned against the wall.
The workers left the unhinged gate in the yard.
An unhinged cabinet door lay on the floor.
Word forms
| comparative | more unhinged |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unhinged |
Common combinations
- seem unhinged
- Her behavior began to seem unhinged to her family.
- an unhinged rant
- His unhinged rant went viral online.
- completely unhinged
- The villain in the film is completely unhinged.
- go unhinged
- I thought the crowd would go unhinged after the goal.
- mentally unhinged
- The court heard he was mentally unhinged.
- unhinged behavior
- The coach regretted his unhinged behavior on the sideline.
Synonyms and how they differ
- deranged
- Deranged sounds more serious and clinical, suggesting a broken mind, while unhinged can be casual or even playful.
- crazy
- Crazy is blunter and everyday, and can be hurtful about mental illness, while unhinged is more specific to losing control.
- erratic
- Erratic describes unpredictable behavior without implying madness.
- unstable
- Unstable is the neutral, often technical word for someone or something likely to change or fail.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: unhinged or unhinge vs unhinged?
unhinged vs unhinge vs unhinged
Unhinge is a verb, so we say the news unhinged him, but he seemed unhinged uses the adjective.
Practice
Which sentence uses unhinged in its common figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
Unhinged usually describes wild, irrational behavior, and an unhinged laugh fits. In the other sentences it is used for a hotel, a verb and a plan, which does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unhinged”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.