Standard Lemma guide

barmy

adj · noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbɑːmi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈbɑɹmi/
  • homophone: balmy (RP)
  • rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)mi

1

adj

Meaning 1

Containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: also, archaic, figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Bubbling with activity or excitement; active, excited.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Crazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Ireland, UK, archaic, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: balmy, dotty, goofy, wacko, aberrant, abnormal, anomalous, barmy, bizarre, crackpot, cranky, eccentric, eccentrical, erratic, excentrical, extraordinary, far-out, freakish, heteroclite, idiocentric, idiosyncratic, irregular, kookish, kooky, nutbar, odd, oddballish, off-centre, outlandish, outré, peculiar, pixilated, queer, quirky, quizzy, spacy, squirrelly, uncommon, wacky, weird, whimsical, whimsome, wifty, Wodehousian, Wonkaesque, 5150, bananas, barking, barking mad, buggish, buggy, bughouse, batchy, batpoop, bats, batty, bonkers, bread baskets, cracked, crackers, cra-cra, cray, cray-cray, crazed, crazy, crazy as a bedbug, crazy as a cootie, crazy as a cootie bug, crazy as a pet coon, cuckoo, daffy, daft, demented, deranged, distraught, disturbed, doolally, fruit loops, gaga, hatstand, harebrained, insane, loon, loco, loony, loony tunes, loopy, lunatic, mad, mental, mentally ill, meshigener, meshugge, moonsick, nerts, non compos mentis, nonsane, nucking futs, nut job, nutballs, nut, nuts, nutso, nutty, nutter, off the beam, off the chain, over the edge, potty, psycho, psychoceramic, psychotic, sicko, screwy, starkers, tonto, unbalanced, unsane, wackadoodle, whackjob, whacko, whacky, wode, yampy, zany, apeshit, batcrap, batshit, bat-shit, fucked in the head, fucked up, ripshit

Antonyms: average, medial, basic, bog-standard, common, commonplace, common-and-garden, common-or-garden, congruent, consistent, conventional, customary, everyday, expected, garden variety, improminent, mundane, natural, normal, ordinary, par for the course, par, plain, plain vanilla, quotidian, regular, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, standard issue, typical, unexceptional, unremarkable, unstrange, usual, vulgar, wakeaday, workaday, sane, balanced, compos mentis, in one's right mind, in possession of one's faculties, lucid, rational, reasonable, sound-minded

4

adj

Meaning 4

Very foolish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Ireland, UK, archaic, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: balmy, asinine, barmy, bedaft, loony, daft, derpy, dim-headed, dim-witted, dopey, dull-headed, dull-witted, dumb, duncical, fatuous, fuzzy-headed, fuzzy-minded, gauvison, goofy, idiotic, idle, insipient, mookish, naive, silly, simple, slight, slow-witted, softheaded, soft in the head, sottish, stupid, thick, unsage, unwise, wool-headed, woolly-headed, woolly-minded, crackpot, dense

Antonyms: astute, clairvoyant, deep, frood, grounded, judicious, oracular, perspicacious, politic, profound, prudent, quick-witted, reasonable, sagacious, sage, sapient, sensible, wise, witful

5

noun

Meaning 5

plural of barma (“a regal Russian mantle or neckpiece made of gold, encrusted with diamonds and other gems”)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Ireland, UK, archaic, form-of, informal, plural

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

informal or slang terms for mentally irregular

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • it used to drive my husband balmy

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: balmy, bats, batty, bonkers, buggy, cracked, crackers, daft, dotty, fruity, haywire, kooky, kookie, loco, loony, loopy, nuts, nutty, round the bend, around the bend, wacky, whacky

Antonyms: none provided

7

adjective satellite

Meaning 7

marked by spirited enjoyment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: zestful, yeasty, zesty

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). Barm is derived from Middle English berm, berme (“foam rising upon ale or beer fermenting; leaven, yeast; foam or head of beer produced by pouring”) [and other forms], from Old English beorma (“foam or head of beer; leaven, yeast”), from Proto-West Germanic *bermō (“barm; yeast”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bhrewh1- (“to boil; to brew”) or *gwher- (“warm; hot”).

Probably an alteration of balmy (“foolish; slightly crazy or mad, eccentric”), influenced by barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) (see etymology 1).

Borrowed from Russian бармы (barmy).

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: пенест (penest) — containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm
  • Finnish: vaahtoinen — containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm
  • Macedonian: пе́нлив (pénliv) — containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm
  • Macedonian: пе́нест (pénest) — containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm
  • Polish: pienisty — containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm
  • Polish: spieniony — containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm