go mad

Verb

Meaning

(intransitive) To become insane.

(intransitive, informal, typically followed by "and" and a second verb) To do something extravagant.
Let's go mad and have a bottle of wine with our lunch.
Here's fifty pounds in case you see anything nice to buy, but don't go mad.

(intransitive, informal, usually as a past participle and preceded by a noun) To reach an excessive or ridiculous level.
Why should we ban controversial speakers from college grounds? Surely that's political correctness gone mad?

Synonyms

Antonyms

Examples

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. Charles Mackay

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it. Herodotus

If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad. Lord Byron

I would like to go mad on one condition, namely, that I would become a happy madman, lively and always in a good mood, without any troubles and obsessions, laughing senselessly from morning to night. Emil Cioran

I've known a lot of people go mad over the years, and it is more distressing than people dying. People dying is quite natural, people going mad is the complete antithesis of that. Alan Moore

A man who will go mad next year starts to roll up his sleeves this year. Amharic Proverb

Close letter words and terms