Insanely

How to spell insanely

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce insanely

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does insanely mean?

1. adverbTo an extreme, unreasonable, or remarkable degree.
2. adverbIn a manner showing severe mental disturbance or wild irrationality.

Insanely in a sentence

• The new flagship phone is insanely expensive for what it offers.

• The villain laughed insanely as the plan fell apart in the film.

• Traffic was insanely heavy on the motorway this morning.

• He grinned insanely while describing his impossible scheme.

Where does insanely come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin sanus, which literally meant 'healthy' or 'sound', especially of the body and mind. From sanus came insanus, meaning 'not sound, of unsound mind', formed with the negating prefix in- ('not'). English took up 'insane' in the sixteenth century from this Latin source, and the adverb 'insanely' followed by adding the native English suffix -ly. The same sanus root survives in 'sane', 'sanity' and even 'sanitary', all carrying the idea of soundness or health. In modern casual speech 'insanely' has broadened far beyond madness to mean simply 'extremely' or 'to an unreasonable degree', and the spelling trap is remembering the silent middle: the 'sane' base keeps its 'e' before the -ly is attached, giving the full sequence san-e-ly.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• san (from sanus: healthy, sound)
• -e (Latin adjective base)
• -ly (adverb suffix)