bonkers
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Crazy, insane, or wildly irrational: An informal, often humorous, slang term describing someone as mentally unsound, behaving in a very foolish or wildly excited way, or having lost their good sense or judgment. It suggests a state of temporary or permanent madness.
Usage
- Common Contexts: Used in informal speech and writing. It often describes a person's state of mind or behavior, but can also describe a situation that is chaotic or out of control.
- Tone: The word is typically not used in a clinical or offensive sense. It carries a humorous, hyperbolic, or exasperated tone rather than a serious medical one.
- Typical Constructions: It is most commonly used after the verb "to be" or "to go".
to be bonkersto go bonkers
Examples
- Adjective:
- You must be bonkers to go swimming in this freezing weather!
- The crowd went bonkers when their team scored the winning goal.
- His new business idea is completely bonkers, but it just might work.
Advanced Usage
- "to drive someone bonkers": to annoy or irritate someone intensely, to the point of exasperation.
- The constant noise from the construction site is driving me bonkers.
Variants and Related Words
- Bonkers (noun, informal): Sometimes used as a noun in the phrase "the bonkers", meaning a state of madness.
- He's completely lost it, gone right round the bonkers.
Synonyms
- Crazy: The most direct synonym.
- Insane: Slightly stronger.
- Mad: Common British equivalent.
- Nuts: Similar informal slang.
- Balmy / Barmy: Informal British synonyms with a very similar meaning and usage.
- Loony / Loco: Other informal, humorous terms for crazy.
Related Idioms
- Stark raving bonkers: An emphatic phrase meaning completely and utterly insane.
- The plan isn't just risky, it's stark raving bonkers.
Adjective
- informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
- it used to drive my husband balmy