unsound mind
Legally incompetent state
Unsound mind is a legal and formal term for mental incapacity—a state in which someone lacks the ability to make rational decisions or understand the consequences of their actions.
Courts may find a person of unsound mind unfit to stand trial, enter contracts, or manage their own affairs: The will was contested on grounds that the testator was of unsound mind.
The phrase sounds clinical and dated; modern usage often prefers specific diagnoses or "lacking mental capacity."
- insaneSeverely mentally disturbed
- madnessMental derangement or folly
- derangedMentally disturbed, irrational
- lunaticDeranged or irrational person
- unhingedMentally or emotionally unstable
off one's rocker · disturbed · delusional · psychotic · not all there · irrational · unstable · crazy · mentally ill · mental illness · paranoid · hallucinations · lose one's marbles · asylum · padded cell · committed · incompetent · non compos mentis
- Mind Idiomsquick wit, bird brain, pea brain, big brain, brain fog
- legal capacitylegal capacity, mental capacity, capacity, incapacity, competence
- cognitive disordersdementia, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's disease, cognitive impairment, vascular dementia
- criminal defensesinsanity plea, insanity defense, legal insanity, diminished capacity, mental incapacity
unsound mindsound mind
Mental clarity and stability
mental competence · compos mentis · of sound mind · legal capacity · mental capacity
unsound mindsanity
Mental soundness
mental health · sane · well-adjusted · psychological health · mental wellness
unsound mindrationality
Sound judgment quality
sound judgment · clear thinking · reason · good sense · level-headedness
unsound, sound, sounds, sounded, sounding, soundly, soundness, unsoundness, mind