crackpot
Harmless local oddball
A crackpot is a person with eccentric or foolish ideas, especially one who promotes bizarre theories with unshakable conviction: Some crackpot called the station claiming aliens built the pyramids.
As an adjective, it describes such ideas: crackpot schemes, crackpot conspiracy theories.
The word suggests harmless delusion rather than malice.
Eccentric or strange person
- oddballEccentric individual
- weirdoPeculiar person, dismissively
- crankRotary operating handle
- nutcaseEccentric or deranged person
screwball · wacko · crackbrain · loony · madcap · flake · fruitcake · nut
Rotary operating handle
- pseudoNot genuinely that thing
- amateurNonprofessional participant
- self-styledClaiming a title unofficially
- armchairUpholstered seat with supports
would-be · so-called · fringe · outsider · maverick · gadfly · contrarian · heretic
One who suspects cover-ups
- crankRotary operating handle
- quackFake healer or fowl noise
- charlatanFaker claiming false expertise
- pseudo-scientistFraud claiming expertise
flat-earther · truther · denialist · tinfoil hat · paranoid · obsessive · fanatic · zealot
Recklessly stupid or impractical
- cockamamieRidiculously implausible or foolish
- half-bakedInsufficiently planned or considered
- outlandishStrikingly weird or foreign-seeming
- far-fetchedUnconvincingly unlikely or strained
absurd · preposterous · ridiculous · nonsensical · hare-brained · wild · foolish · crazy
kook
Eccentric or strange person
nutcase · screwball · wacko · crackbrain · loony · madcap · flake · fruitcake · nut · character
crank
Rotary operating handle
- pseudoNot genuinely that thing
- amateurNonprofessional participant
- self-styledClaiming a title unofficially
armchair · would-be · so-called · fringe · outsider · maverick · gadfly · contrarian · heretic · dissident
conspiracy theorist
One who suspects cover-ups
pseudo-scientist · flat-earther · truther · denialist · tinfoil hat · paranoid · obsessive · fanatic · zealot · true believer
harebrained
Recklessly stupid or impractical
- cockamamieRidiculously implausible or foolish
- half-bakedInsufficiently planned or considered
- outlandishStrikingly weird or foreign-seeming
far-fetched · absurd · preposterous · ridiculous · nonsensical · hare-brained · wild · foolish · crazy · mad
- compound slangairhead, birdbrain, blockhead, bonehead, dimwit
- eccentricsmad scientist, oddball, weirdo, kook, absent-minded professor
- Mad Scientistsmad scientist, Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll, Dr. Moreau, Frankenstein
- oddballsoddball, eccentric, weirdo, freak, misfit
- insanityinsane, crazy, mad, lunatic, insanity
- funnyfunny, comical, hilarious, humorous, amusing
crackpotsane
Mentally healthy, clearheaded
rational · reasonable · sound · balanced · well-adjusted
crackpotconformist
One following accepted norms
conformer · follower · sheep · traditionalist · conventionalist