have a screw loose
"have-a-screw-loose" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“have a screw loose” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 18
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To be insane, irrational, or eccentric.
Corpus desk
Index EN-have-a-screw-loose · have a screw loose · English
have a screw loose · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 18 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" 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 | have a screw loose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 18 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “have a screw loose” in English
Rare enough to double-check
have a screw loose is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To be insane, irrational, or eccentric.".
No misspelling variants are generated for have a screw loose in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is have a screw loose, spelled H-A-V-E- -A- -S-C-R-E-W- -L-O-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1To be insane, irrational, or eccentric.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how have a screw loose appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Richard, glorious in new livery, [...] went with his sad message, first to the church and then to the banqueting-hall in Albemarle Street. "Not any wedding?" said the head-waiter at the hotel. "I knew they was folks as would have a screw loose somewheres. [...]"
"You know he really has got a screw loose in his head somewheres, an' there ain't any one but what says he's the town fool, all right."
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.