Library / English Dictionary

MADDEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make mad

Example:

His behavior is maddening

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "madden" is one way to...):

anger (make angry)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will madden him

Sense 2

Meaning:

Drive up the wall; go on someone's nerves

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "madden" is one way to...):

bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to go crazy; cause to lose one's mind

Synonyms:

craze; madden

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "madden"):

derange; unbalance (derange mentally, throw out of mental balance; make insane)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

I was possessed by a maddening rage when I thought of him, and desired and ardently prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

No one knows a word of the matter, but you can imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows to be absolutely impossible.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Therefore, although every nerve in my body shrank from the whisky-maddened figure which I pictured in the room above, I still answered, in as careless a voice as I could command, that I was ready to go.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his purpose.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The thought of again setting pen to paper maddened him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Additionally, Mercury was retrograde last month, starting February 16, and you began to feel the maddening slowdowns of Mercury as early as two weeks before.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

It maddens me to think of the deviltries which they may be devising.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This was maddening to them.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Filled with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This interfered with the solitude I coveted for the prosecution of my task; yet at the commencement of my journey the presence of my friend could in no way be an impediment, and truly I rejoiced that thus I should be saved many hours of lonely, maddening reflection.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)