barmy
adjective
Simple meaning
Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bahrmeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɑɹmi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.
figuratively
Bubbling with activity or excitement; active, excited.
Very foolish.
also figuratively
Containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm ("foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread").
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.
Used this way, barmy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- buggy , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: crazy or mad
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.