meshuga

adjective

me·​shuga mə-ˈshu̇-gə 

variants or meshugge or less commonly meshugah or meshuggah

: foolish, eccentric entry 1

In Israel today one typically hears two comments about "Talik," as he is universally known: that he is short (in fact, he is barely five feet six) and that he is meshuga.

—Peter Hellman

The former is a smooth crooner, à la Dean Martin, and the latter is a high-energy meshuga comedian, à la Jerry Lewis.

—Roger A. Berger

Synonyms

• balmy
• barmy [chiefly British]
• bats
• batty
• bedlam
• bonkers
• brainsick
• bughouse [slang]
• certifiable
• crackbrained
• cracked
• crackers
• crackpot
• cranky [dialect]
• crazed
• crazy
• cuckoo
• daffy
• daft
• demented
• deranged
• fruity [slang]
• gaga
• haywire
• insane
• kooky
• kookie
• loco [slang]
• loony
• looney
• loony tunes
• looney tunes
• lunatic
• mad
• maniacal
• maniac
• mental
• moonstruck
• non compos mentis
• nuts
• nutty
• psycho
• psychotic
• scatty [chiefly British]
• screwy
• unbalanced
• unhinged
• unsound
• wacko
• whacko
• wacky
• whacky
• wud [chiefly Scottish]

Examples of meshuga in a Sentence

when your mother is meshuga like his was, a lifetime of therapy is pretty much a foregone conclusion

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish meshuge, from Hebrew mĕshuggāʽ

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined above