free from mental derangement; having a sound, healthy mind.
a sane person.
having or showing reason, sound judgment, or good sense.
sane advice.
sound; healthy.
sound in mind; free from mental disturbance
having or showing reason, good judgment, or sound sense
obsolete healthy
First recorded in 1620–30, sane is from the Latin word sānus healthy
Official shortening of its byname Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy
A sane person doesn't have any screws loose — in other words, they're free of mental illness and in a reasonable state of mind. You probably know that the word insane means crazy. Well, the opposite of insane is sane — or not crazy. A sane person is of sound mind and is mentally healthy. Sane people have good judgment, are reasonable, and can tell the difference between what's real and imagined. Whenever someone commits a crime or does something totally outlandish, people usually wonder if they're sane or not.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Those sailors who remain are trying to stay sane as their cell service fizzles in and out, compromising attempts to reach their family, employers and governments.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
What kept them sane was talking among themselves about memories of their past lives, Rumyantsev recalled.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
Lindsay Foreman says she is keeping sane by reading, doing laps of the prison yard and, when she can, practising yoga.
From BBC • May 1, 2026
“Is she right? Is she wrong? Is she psycho? Is she sane? Is she brilliant? Is she all of those things? Or none of them? You can’t pin her down,” Jonas explains.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026
Why would any sane person lower his or her standard of living just to multiply the number of copies of the Homo sapiens genome?
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
