madden

English

Etymology

From mad +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmædən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Homophone: Madden
• Rhymes: -ædən

Verb

madden (third-person singular simple present maddens, present participle maddening, simple past and past participle maddened)

1. (transitive) To make angry.
2. (transitive) To make insane; to inflame with passion.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To become furious.
   • 1855, Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!‎, published 1898, page 353:

     The rascal saw his advantage, and began a fierce harangue against the heretic strangers. As he maddened, his hearers maddened; the savage nature, capricious as a child's, flashed out in wild suspicion. Women yelled, men scowled, and ran hastily to their huts for bows and blow-guns.

   • 1870, John O'Hanlon, Irish folk lore‎, page 71:

     And as he maddened at the thought, honest Fergus, too, forgot himself, and added in an excited strain, " I wish one end o' the hog's puddin' was sthuck in yer nose, you foolish craythur!"

Antonyms

• tranquilize

Translations

Anagrams

• Dedman, damned, demand, manded

Middle English

Alternative forms

• maddyn, mad, madde, made, medd, medde

Etymology

From mad +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmadən/

Verb

madden

1. To be mad or insane; to be afflicted with insanity.
2. To be emotionally overwhelmed or consumed by mood or feelings.
3. To behave idiotically or stupidly; to display stupidity.
4. (rare) To make mad, crazy or insane; to madden.
5. (rare) To emotionally overwhelm.

Conjugation

Descendants

• English: mad (obsolete)

References

• “mā̆dden, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-09.