demented
adjective
de·ment·ed
di-ˈmen-təd 
1
: mad, insane
The advertising campaign for the movie version is trying to sell it as a prankish comedy, with the eccentric aunt who appears from nowhere as a demented Mary Poppins.—
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael… the violence was instigated directly by Serbian nationalists in Bosnia and in Belgrade as part of their demented project to separate the two intermixed ethnic communities once and for all,—Charles Simic
Charles Simic2
: affected by or exhibiting cognitive dementia
At least one-third of people serving as caregivers for a demented husband or wife become chronically depressed.—Bennett D. Gurian
Bennett D. Gurian
dementedly
adverb
dementedness
noun
Synonyms
- balmy
- barmy [chiefly British]
- bats
- batty
- bedlam
- bonkers
- brainsick
- bughouse [slang]
- certifiable
- crackbrained
- cracked
- crackers
- crackpot
- cranky [dialect]
- crazed
- crazy
- cuckoo
- daffy
- daft
- deranged
- fruity [slang]
- gaga
- haywire
- insane
- kooky
- kookie
- loco [slang]
- loony
- looney
- loony tunes
- looney tunes
- lunatic
- mad
- maniacal
- maniac
- mental
- meshuga
- meshugge
- meshugah
- meshuggah
- moonstruck
- non compos mentis
- nuts
- nutty
- psycho
- psychotic
- scatty [chiefly British]
- screwy
- unbalanced
- unhinged
- unsound
- wacko
- whacko
- wacky
- whacky
- wud [chiefly Scottish]
Examples of demented in a Sentence
Many of the patients there were demented.
In the movie, he plays a demented man trying to survive on the streets of Los Angeles.
Her demented ramblings are a symptom of her illness.
He gave me a demented little smile.
parents who are almost demented with worry
Recent Examples on the Web
Last night, former President Trump called President Biden a demented tyrant, adding that Israel wouldn't have been attacked on his watch.
—ABC News, 14 Apr. 2024
The movie’s most chilling sequence—in a nicely demented touch, Jesse Plemons, Dunst’s offscreen husband, pops up as a murderous psychopath—is also its most dubiously contrived.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2024
The result was Saltburn, a gloriously demented tale of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a boy who absolutely cannot bear the idea of being ordinary.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 4 Mar. 2024
That’s not uncommon in biographical stories, especially one that explores a tragic figure from his impressionable youth to the section of life where triumph and disaster present themselves, to the restlessness of a demented old age spent in search of both cohesion and absolution.
—Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 28 Jan. 2024
These are the demented minds that brought us products that literally no one even thought to ask for, from Oscar Mayer face masks to Kraft Mac & Cheese ice cream to Velveeta-scented nail polish.
—Emily Heil, Washington Post, 6 Jan. 2024
All around him, people move their bodies to the demented industrial groove.
—Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2023
The stories are short, some scarcely a paragraph long, and the demented vibe of this one is representative.
—The Atlantic Culture Desk, The Atlantic, 25 Oct. 2023
While captured by Buggy and his crew, they’re subjected to the kind of psychotic torture that only a demented clown could dish out, which Luffy takes in his typical optimistic stride.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 31 Aug. 2023
ABC News, 14 Apr. 2024
The movie’s most chilling sequence—in a nicely demented touch, Jesse Plemons, Dunst’s offscreen husband, pops up as a murderous psychopath—is also its most dubiously contrived.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2024
The result was Saltburn, a gloriously demented tale of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a boy who absolutely cannot bear the idea of being ordinary.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 4 Mar. 2024
That’s not uncommon in biographical stories, especially one that explores a tragic figure from his impressionable youth to the section of life where triumph and disaster present themselves, to the restlessness of a demented old age spent in search of both cohesion and absolution.
—Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 28 Jan. 2024
These are the demented minds that brought us products that literally no one even thought to ask for, from Oscar Mayer face masks to Kraft Mac & Cheese ice cream to Velveeta-scented nail polish.
—Emily Heil, Washington Post, 6 Jan. 2024
All around him, people move their bodies to the demented industrial groove.
—Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2023
The stories are short, some scarcely a paragraph long, and the demented vibe of this one is representative.
—The Atlantic Culture Desk, The Atlantic, 25 Oct. 2023
While captured by Buggy and his crew, they’re subjected to the kind of psychotic torture that only a demented clown could dish out, which Luffy takes in his typical optimistic stride.
—Jennifer Maas, Variety, 31 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'demented.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near demented
Cite this Entry
“Demented.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demented. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Medical Definition
demented
adjective
de·ment·ed
di-ˈment-əd
: affected by or exhibiting cognitive dementia
dementedly
adverb
dementedness
noun
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