An insane or eccentric person; a crackpot.
"The neighborhood kids started calling Mr. Henderson crazy after they saw him trying to communicate with pigeons through a walkie-talkie."
In plain English: A crazy is someone who acts completely out of touch with reality or behaves in an extremely wild and unpredictable way.
"The crazy was all over the place after they opened the bottle of champagne."
Usage: Use "crazy" as a noun only in informal contexts to refer to an eccentric person or a chaotic situation, such as saying "he's out of his crazy." Avoid using it formally when you need the precise terms "insane," "eccentric," or "crackpot."
foolish; totally unsound
"a crazy scheme"
"half-baked ideas"
"a screwball proposal without a prayer of working"
Flawed or damaged; unsound, liable to break apart; ramshackle.
"The old wooden pier looked crazy after the storm, with planks hanging loose and supports leaning precariously over the water."
In plain English: Crazy means completely wild, out of control, or very strange.
"The crazy weather made it impossible to play outside today."
Usage: Use "crazy" informally to describe something broken, unreliable, or in poor condition, such as a shaky table leg or a cracked windshield. Avoid using it for these physical flaws if you need precise technical language, as terms like "damaged" or "faulty" are more appropriate.
Very, extremely.
"The crazy amount of traffic made me late for work again today."
In plain English: Crazy is an informal way to say something is extremely foolish or unreasonable.
"The crazy rain soaked us to the bone during our picnic."
Usage: Use "crazy" as an informal adverb to mean very or extremely, such as in the phrase "crazy fast." It is appropriate only in casual conversation and should not be used in formal writing.
The word crazy comes from the Old French verb craze, meaning "to crush," combined with the suffix -y. It originally described a state of being crazed up or mentally broken down, similar to how we say someone is cracked up today.