What does crazed mean?
"Crazed" is an adjective describing someone driven into a wild, uncontrolled state of mental disturbance — frantic, deranged, or beside themselves. It frequently appears in phrases such as "crazed with grief" or "a crazed look," conveying a temporary loss of rational control rather than chronic insanity. The word also has an entirely separate, technical sense: in ceramics, a "crazed" glaze is one covered with a fine network of hairline cracks caused by shrinkage, prized in some pottery traditions for its webbed appearance. Derived from the older noun and verb "craze," which once meant shattering or breaking, the term preserves that sense of fragmentation both figuratively, in a broken mind, and literally, in broken glaze. Vivid and evocative, it suits dramatic description in fiction, journalism, and everyday speech alike.
Driven to or exhibiting wild, uncontrolled mental disturbance.
"The crowd scattered as the crazed man charged through the square."
(Of a glaze, glass, or painted surface) covered with a fine network of cracks.
"The vase's crazed glaze revealed its considerable age."
Chiefly used in ceramics and antiques contexts.
The word "crazed" does double duty: it can describe a person driven out of their mind — or a teacup whose glaze has shattered into a spiderweb of hairline cracks.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crazed
"Crazed" derives from the Middle English verb "crazen," meaning to break or shatter, itself probably from Old Norse "krasa," to crash or smash. By the sixteenth century the verb had developed the figurative sense of shattering a person's mind — to drive insane — and its participle "crazed" came to describe such a deranged state. The literal sense of fine cracking survives in ceramics, where a crazed glaze shows a web of minute fissures. Cognates within English include "craze" and "crazy."
Related word forms
How crazed is actually used
"Crazed" carries an intense, often dramatic connotation and appears more frequently in journalism and fiction than in everyday conversation; the ceramic sense is chiefly technical or specialist usage among collectors and conservators.
Easily confused with crazed
"Crazy" broadly means mad or wildly enthusiastic and is common informal speech, while "crazed" specifically suggests a frenzied, out-of-control state or fine cracking on a glazed surface.
"Cratered" means pitted with craters, whereas "crazed" refers either to mental derangement or a weblike pattern of tiny cracks.
"Grazed" means scraped lightly or fed on grass, while "crazed" denotes madness or a crackled surface texture.