unhinged
Americanadjective
-
having no hinge or hinges, or with the hinges removed.
an unhinged gate.
-
unsettled, disordered, or distraught.
He became unhinged when his friend died.
Etymology
Origin of unhinged
First recorded in 1710–20; unhinged ( def. 1 ) un- 1 + hinged ( def. ); unhinged ( def. 2 ) unhinge + -ed 2
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.
As Raftery writes, television and films had, at the time, generated the notion that serial killers were “unhinged lunatics,” but the agents discovered a different side.
From Los Angeles Times
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
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.
