Definition

1. 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 bonkers
  • to 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

1. informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
   • it used to drive my husband balmy