unhinge
Americanverb (used with object)
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to remove (a door or the like) from hinges.
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to open wide by or as if by removing supporting hinges.
to unhinge one's jaws.
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to upset; unbalance; disorient; throw into confusion or turmoil.
to unhinge the mind.
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to dislocate or disrupt the normal operation of; unsettle.
to unhinge plans.
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to detach or separate from something.
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to cause to waver or vacillate.
to unhinge supporters of conservative policies.
verb
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to remove (a door, gate, etc) from its hinges
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to derange or unbalance (a person, his mind, etc)
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to disrupt or unsettle (a process or state of affairs)
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(usually foll by from) to detach or dislodge
Other Word Forms
- unhingement noun
Etymology
Origin of unhinge
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She’s repeatedly keen to clarify that she’s nothing like M even as she defends her, as if she’s slowly realizing just how unhinged the character comes off in the series.
From Los Angeles Times
Heathcliff might have been the most overtly unhinged boyfriend adolescent girls encountered in their assigned reading list, but he was far from the only one, even within the extended Brontë universe.
From Salon
How can UCLA’s combustible coach possibly demand discipline, hold his players responsible, or blame them for failing to take accountability when, night after night, he’s the most unhinged person in the building?
From Los Angeles Times
The patrons pause scrolling to glance at this unhinged, unwashed man wearing a crown of computer wires wrapped around his head like an IT messiah.
From Los Angeles Times
Mr. Keoghan, lately seen—barely—as the Joker in “The Batman,” specializes in unhinged characters, but the act isn’t especially convincing this time around.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
