paranoid
adjective
para·noid
| \ ˈper-ə-ˌnȯid
, ˌpa-rə-\
, ˌpa-rə-\
variants:
or less commonly paranoidal \ ˌper-ə-ˈnȯi-dᵊl
, ˌpa-rə- \
, ˌpa-rə- \
Definition of paranoid
1
: characterized by or resembling paranoia or paranoid schizophrenia
a paranoid psychiatric patient
2
: characterized by suspiciousness, persecutory trends, or megalomania
behaving in a paranoid manner with accusations of persecutions
3
: extremely fearful
was so paranoid that he was afraid to walk the streets
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Examples of paranoid in a Sentence
I guess I was just being paranoid.
She's a little paranoid about her job.
It's nothing more than a paranoid fantasy.
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Recent Examples on the Web
The multiyear effort may sound premature and a bit paranoid, as such a quantum computer may never exist. — Adrian Cho, Science | AAAS, "Cryptographers scramble to protect the internet from hackers with quantum computers," 21 Aug. 2019 Foreign clients, too, are paranoid because of the secondary sanctions that the United States would place on them if they are caught buying Iranian oil. — Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, "U.S. Sanctions Turn Iran’s Oil Industry Into Spy vs. Spy," 8 Aug. 2019 The plot references Invasion of the Body Snatchers and (more explicitly) John Carpenter’s The Thing, both of which were paranoid Cold War metaphors for communist infiltration and corruption. — Noah Berlatsky, The Verge, "In season 3, Stranger Things’ celebration of ’80s pop culture becomes a political ideology," 8 July 2019 Growing increasingly paranoid, Hitler routinely changed his schedule at the last minute and with no prior notice. — Albinko Hasic, Time, "A Group of German Leaders Tried to Kill Hitler in 1944. Here’s Why They Failed," 19 July 2019 The Communists Will Never Allow This.’ Photographer Liu Heung Shing on Documenting Tiananmen For all its power, China’s government is still deeply paranoid. — Laignee Barron / Hong Kong, Time, "How the Tiananmen Square Massacre Changed China Forever," 4 June 2019 Iacocca later reiterated the same sentiments to Time magazine in 2001, saying Ford was cruel, crude and paranoid. — Fox News, "Lee Iacocca, 'father' of Ford Mustang who helped save Chrysler from bankruptcy, dead at 94: reports," 3 July 2019 Each of the seven episodes covers a critical year for Fox News and its increasingly powerful–and paranoid–leader, played by Russell Crowe in a fat suit and pounds of latex makeup. — Judy Berman, Time, "The Loudest Voice Shows Us What We Already Knew. That’s Not Redundant—It’s Exactly What We Need," 27 June 2019 The happy ending comes when Death finally resumes normal operations, starting with the paranoid and fascist emperor of the title (the baritone Ben Edquist, somewhat challenged by the part). — Washington Post, "At Wolf Trap Opera, Gluck and Ullman make for strange bedfellows," 27 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'paranoid.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for paranoid
paranoid
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of paranoid
medical
: of, relating to, or suffering from a mental illness that causes you to falsely believe that people are trying to harm you
: having or showing an unreasonable feeling that people are trying to harm you, do not like you, etc. : feeling or showing paranoia
See the full definition for paranoid in the English Language Learners Dictionary
paranoid
adjective
para·noid
| \ ˈper-ə-ˌnȯid
\
\
Kids Definition of paranoid
: having unreasonable feelings of suspicion, distrust, and persecution
paranoid
adjective
para·noid
| \ ˈpar-ə-ˌnȯid
\
\
variants:
also paranoidal \ ˌpar-ə-ˈnȯid-ᵊl
\
\
Medical Definition of paranoid
(Entry 1 of 2)
1
: characterized by or resembling paranoia or paranoid schizophrenia
2
: characterized by suspiciousness, persecutory trends, or megalomania
paranoid
nounMedical Definition of paranoid (Entry 2 of 2)
: one affected with paranoia or paranoid schizophrenia
— called also paranoiac
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