rhizoverbBeta
DictionarycrazeBrief popular enthusiasm
noun / verb

craze

KRAYZ/kreɪz/

To drive into an irrationally excited state.

The novelty toys craze the friends, who eagerly abandon one set for another.

A compact two-moment scene shows a shared novelty craze being rapidly displaced: four friends eagerly spin matching three-lobed fidget toys, then the same group enthusiastically squeezes colorful bubble-popping toys while their spinners lie abandoned together.
Etymology
crazeMiddle Englishto shatter, break to pieces

Crasen meant to shatter or break apart. Perhaps through the idea of mental breakdown, the noun came to mean a mania or sudden, temporary enthusiasm shared by many people.

In context

Town Meeting TV5:48
big dance hit of the 18th century the big dance craze was the minuette
What’s So Great about Beethoven’s Fifth? | Education and Enrichment for Everyone

More examples

  • The craze for homemade slime fades as quickly as it begins.
  • The crowd is crazed with excitement when the band appears.
  • After days without sleep, he feels crazed and confused.

Forms

craze · crazes · crazed · crazing

crazy adjective — Wildly excited or unable to think clearly.

Similar words

fad
A brief popular fashion, without necessarily involving intense excitement.
mania
An intense enthusiasm that need not be widespread or brief.
derange
To seriously disturb people’s thinking, rather than merely excite them.