mental case
4
9.9
- noun
- /ˈmɛn.təl keɪs/
- Slur
:
loco
- He was afraid that if he spoke about his struggles, others would label him a mental case.
Examples
-
Just ask Chalabi and the Hamburg taxi driver whose information laid the basis for invading Iraq, despite the fact that he is a certified mental case.
Blog text (5) -
After my diagnosis, I worried that people would see me as a mental case and avoid me.
-
I guess that makes me some sort of mental case, huh?
Fiction book (1997) -
You gonna treat me like a mental case?
Fiction book (2002) -
I'm not a mental case.
Fiction book (1997) -
No, I don't think it makes you a mental case at all.
Fiction book (1997) -
You have to be a mental case to use the word "slut."
Blog text (11) -
And he's like a mental case.
Fiction book (1999) -
Yeah, she's a fucking mental case and a disaster.
Blog text (19) -
She knew she'd married a mental case.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
1
7.4
A person who is very worried about small things and cannot relax
A person with a long-term emotional problem that causes strong anxiety
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'mental' (relating to mind or psychiatric condition) with 'case' (an instance or person), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a person with a mental condition. Although the term is slangy and offensive/outdated, its meaning is compositionally predictable from the constituents and follows a common adjective+noun pattern.
Etymology
Mental case likely comes from old medical talk where doctors called a patient a case and kept a file about them, so adding mental turned the person into a label for someone with a mental illness. That's why it once meant 'a person with a mental illness' but is now seen as 'insensitive and outdated'.