drive someone crazy

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

drive someone crazy (third-person singular simple present drives someone crazy, present participle driving someone crazy, simple past drove someone crazy, past participle driven someone crazy)

1. (informal, literal) To cause someone to become insane.
2. (informal, idiomatic) To annoy or irritate.
   • 2007, Joe Biden, Promises to Keep‎^[1], New York: Random House, published 2008, →ISBN, page 110:

     Jesse Helms, the Republican from North Carolina, drove me crazy at first.

3. (informal, idiomatic) To cause to be infatuated.
   • 1977, Ted Ashford (lyrics and music), “Don't It Drive You Crazy”, in Having A Party, performed by Pointer Sisters:

     Dance for you / Don't it drive you crazy baby?

Synonyms

• drive someone insane
• drive someone mad
• drive someone nuts
• drive someone up the wall
• drive to distraction

Translations

cause insanity

• Catalan: embogir (ca)
• Esperanto: frenezigi
• French: rendre fou (fr) m, rendre folle f, affoler (fr)
• German: treiben zum Wahnsinn, verrückt machen
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐκμαίνω (ekmaínō)

• Hebrew: שִׁגֵּעַ
• Ladino: tresalir, enlokeser
• Latin: dēmentō
• Portuguese: enlouquecer (pt)
• Spanish: alocar (es), enloquecer (es), rayarse (es)
• Swedish: driva någon till vansinne
• Turkish: çıldırtmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: зводити з розуму impf (zvodyty z rozumu), звести з розуму pf (zvesty z rozumu)

annoy

• Hungarian: az őrületbe kerget
• Portuguese: enlouquecer (pt), deixar louco
• Spanish: rayarse (es), volver (es) loco (es), enloquecer (es), traer de cabeza, llevar (es) loco (es)
• Swedish: driva någon till vansinne

cause to be infatuated

• Spanish: enloquecer (es)