basket case
"basket-case" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“basket case” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Someone (especially a soldier) who has lost all four limbs.
Corpus desk
Index EN-basket-case · basket case · English
basket case · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | basket case |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “basket case” in English
Rare enough to double-check
basket case is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for basket case, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From basket + case, based on rumors during World War I that wounded soldiers were transported in baskets. The correct English form is basket case, spelled B-A-S-K-E-T- -C-A-S-E.
Definition
- 1Someone (especially a soldier) who has lost all four limbs.
- 2An institution or country in a bad condition or difficult situation (economically, financially or otherwise).
- 3One made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic, stress or exhaustion; someone considered mentally unstable.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how basket case appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The Surgeon General of the Army […] denies […] that there is any foundation for the stories that have been circulated […] of the existence of ‘basket cases’ in our hospitals.
Her mind, at its worst, is in ways analogous to a basket-case who seethes with desires to move but has no limbs.
Etymology
From basket + case, based on rumors during World War I that wounded soldiers were transported in baskets.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.