in his right mind
7
4.6
- idiom
:
en su sano juicio
- And nobody in his right mind would even try.
- in his right mind would want
- one in his right mind
- think that anybody in his right mind
This is about a man not in his right mind who now has nuclear weapons.
- This is about a man not in his right mind who now has nuclear weapons.
- We don't, we don't know if he's in his right mind.
Examples
-
No one in his right mind goes there.
Fiction book (1992) -
No person in his right mind would jump from a high elevation or purposely walk into a fire.
Blog text (24) -
One look and nobody in his right mind would attack.
Fiction book (1992) -
He's not in his right mind.
-
Hell, we had so many problems that I didn't think that anybody in his right mind would invest money in Cuba at this time.
Academic text (1995) -
We tried to help him over the years, but you are right—he wasn't in his right mind.
Blog text (6) -
Sometime during the ceremony, a revelation came to me just as I was about to faint from the heat: divorce wasn't allowed in the Philippines because nobody in his right mind would want to go through a ceremony such as this more than once.
Fiction book (1999) -
Any gentleman in his right mind would be terrified to venture into this area of the city, rife with thieves' kitchens, whores, bullies, and criminals who would kill for a few shillings.
Fiction book (1999) -
Any man in his right mind would be proud to be with you.
-
What lawyer in his right mind allows his client to go on and do an interview like that?
Synonyms
119
3.2
Having a healthy mind and able to think clearly
9
6.5
Able to think clearly and make decisions
Antonyms
How Sane
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'sensible and rational' is directly derivable from the parts: 'mind' = the thinking faculty and 'right' here understood as 'sound/correct', so 'in his right mind' literally means in a normal or sane mental state. This compositional logic is common cross-linguistically (e.g. Spanish 'en su sano juicio', French 'sain d'esprit') and follows a standard adjective + noun pattern, making it accessible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
The phrase in his right mind may come from an old idea that the word right meant 'correct' or 'proper', so being in the mind's 'right' part meant your thinking worked as it should. That's why the phrase now means 'thinking sensibly and not crazy'.